##It appears to have been less of a decision based on concrete evidence and more one based on the convenience to do it.

The OSIRIS-REx mission's main objective is to carry out a sample return mission from 101955 Bennu in the hopes of being able to further analyse the asteroid.

According to the University of Arizona news the decision for the search came shortly after the project got funding from Nasa, from Regent's Professor of Planetary Science at LPL, Renu Maholtra.

"I said to Dante, 'Hey, while you're in that neighborhood of the solar system, you should check out the scenery!'" she says. "I'm thrilled that he and his team were very persistent in making the case to NASA, obtaining approval and making a plan on how to go about the survey."
_{UANews - Surveying the Scenery 90 Million Miles From Earth}

The scenery referenced by Professor Renu Maholtra, is in fact any objects in the stable orbit at L4. According to Dante Lauretta, the Principal Investigator of the mission, from the University of Arizona, suggest the opportunity presented by the OSIRIS-REx's pass through the Lagrangian point, he, furthermore, expresses the expected likelihood of there being objects there that were not found due to the difficulty of observing objects at L4.

"Because the Earth's fourth Lagrange point is relatively stable, it is possible that remnants of the material that built Earth are trapped within it," Lauretta says. "So this search gives us a unique opportunity to explore the primordial building blocks of Earth."
_ibid.

The exercise also had the added benefit of getting to know the limits of the spacecraft:

The Earth-Trojan Asteroid Search was a significant success for the OSIRIS-REx mission,” said OSIRIS-REx principal investigator Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson. “In this first practical exercise of the mission’s science operations, the mission team learned so much about this spacecraft’s capabilities and flight operations that we are now ahead of the game for when we get to Bennu.
_{AsteroidMission.org - OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Search Tests Instruments, Science Team}

For more information on the search and the benefit it brings, for those interested, can be found in the article linked.

The video below discusses the OSIRIS-REx, and the pass through the fourth Lagrangian point:

It appears to have been less of a decision based on concrete evidence and more one based on the convenience to do it.

The OSIRIS-REx mission's main objective is to carry out a sample return mission from 101955 Bennu in the hopes of being able to further analyse the asteroid.

According to the University of Arizona news the decision for the search came shortly after the project got funding from Nasa, from Regent's Professor of Planetary Science at LPL, Renu Maholtra.

"I said to Dante, 'Hey, while you're in that neighborhood of the solar system, you should check out the scenery!'" she says. "I'm thrilled that he and his team were very persistent in making the case to NASA, obtaining approval and making a plan on how to go about the survey."
_{UANews - Surveying the Scenery 90 Million Miles From Earth}

The scenery referenced by Professor Renu Maholtra, is in fact any objects in the stable orbit at L4. According to Dante Lauretta, the Principal Investigator of the mission, from the University of Arizona, suggest the opportunity presented by the OSIRIS-REx's pass through the Lagrangian point, he, furthermore, expresses the expected likelihood of there being objects there that were not found due to the difficulty of observing objects at L4.

"Because the Earth's fourth Lagrange point is relatively stable, it is possible that remnants of the material that built Earth are trapped within it," Lauretta says. "So this search gives us a unique opportunity to explore the primordial building blocks of Earth."
_ibid.

The exercise also had the added benefit of getting to know the limits of the spacecraft:

The Earth-Trojan Asteroid Search was a significant success for the OSIRIS-REx mission,” said OSIRIS-REx principal investigator Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson. “In this first practical exercise of the mission’s science operations, the mission team learned so much about this spacecraft’s capabilities and flight operations that we are now ahead of the game for when we get to Bennu.
_{AsteroidMission.org - OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Search Tests Instruments, Science Team}

For more information on the search and the benefit it brings, for those interested, can be found in the article linked.

The video below discusses the OSIRIS-REx, and the pass through the fourth Lagrangian point:

##It appears to have been less of a decision based on concrete evidence and more one based on the convenience to do it.

The OSIRIS-REx mission's main objective is to carry out a sample return mission from 101955 Bennu in the hopes of being able to further analyse the asteroid.

According to the University of Arizona news the decision for the search came shortly after the project got funding from Nasa, from Regent's Professor of Planetary Science at LPL, Renu Maholtra.

"I said to Dante, 'Hey, while you're in that neighborhood of the solar system, you should check out the scenery!'" she says. "I'm thrilled that he and his team were very persistent in making the case to NASA, obtaining approval and making a plan on how to go about the survey."
_{UANews - Surveying the Scenery 90 Million Miles From Earth}

The scenery referenced by Professor Renu Maholtra, is in fact any objects in the stable orbit at L4. According to Lauretta, the Principal Investigator of the mission, from the University of Arizona, suggest the opportunity presented by the OSIRIS-REx's pass through the Lagrangian point.

"Because the Earth's fourth Lagrange point is relatively stable, it is possible that remnants of the material that built Earth are trapped within it," Lauretta says. "So this search gives us a unique opportunity to explore the primordial building blocks of Earth."
_ibid.

For more information on the search and the benefit it brings, for those interested, can be found in the article linked.

The video below discusses the OSIRIS-REx, and the pass through the fourth Lagrangian point:

##It appears to have been less of a decision based on concrete evidence and more one based on the convenience to do it.

The OSIRIS-REx mission's main objective is to carry out a sample return mission from 101955 Bennu in the hopes of being able to further analyse the asteroid.

According to the University of Arizona news the decision for the search came shortly after the project got funding from Nasa, from Regent's Professor of Planetary Science at LPL, Renu Maholtra.

"I said to Dante, 'Hey, while you're in that neighborhood of the solar system, you should check out the scenery!'" she says. "I'm thrilled that he and his team were very persistent in making the case to NASA, obtaining approval and making a plan on how to go about the survey."
_{UANews - Surveying the Scenery 90 Million Miles From Earth}

The scenery referenced by Professor Renu Maholtra, is in fact any objects in the stable orbit at L4. According to Dante Lauretta, the Principal Investigator of the mission, from the University of Arizona, suggest the opportunity presented by the OSIRIS-REx's pass through the Lagrangian point, he, furthermore, expresses the expected likelihood of there being objects there that were not found due to the difficulty of observing objects at L4.

"Because the Earth's fourth Lagrange point is relatively stable, it is possible that remnants of the material that built Earth are trapped within it," Lauretta says. "So this search gives us a unique opportunity to explore the primordial building blocks of Earth."
_ibid.

The exercise also had the added benefit of getting to know the limits of the spacecraft:

The Earth-Trojan Asteroid Search was a significant success for the OSIRIS-REx mission,” said OSIRIS-REx principal investigator Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson. “In this first practical exercise of the mission’s science operations, the mission team learned so much about this spacecraft’s capabilities and flight operations that we are now ahead of the game for when we get to Bennu.
_{AsteroidMission.org - OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Search Tests Instruments, Science Team}

For more information on the search and the benefit it brings, for those interested, can be found in the article linked.

The video below discusses the OSIRIS-REx, and the pass through the fourth Lagrangian point: