Already in September, the long-awaited rock samples from the asteroid Bennu will be delivered to Earth.
NASA has completed its preparations to retrieve a capsule containing rock samples from the asteroid Bennu, which will come to Earth on September 24. This capsule will be delivered by the OSIRIS-REx apparatus, which collected samples almost 3 years ago, Space writes.
in 24News Breaker. Technology emerged telegram channel. Subscribe to not miss the latest and exciting news from the world of science!
In the final stage of preparation for sampling the asteroid Bennu, NASA scientists launched a fake capsule into the sky, which then successfully landed at the Pentagon military training ground in Utah, USA. A real capsule containing 250 grams of rock samples from the asteroid Bennu will land here on September 24.
This capsule will be sent to Earth by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which flies in 2016 to study a 500-metre-wide asteroid and take samples from its surface for the first time. The device itself will not land on our planet, but will fly further to study another asteroid, Apophis. Like Bennu, this space rock is considered potentially dangerous to Earth, and the device will reach it in 2029 at the earliest.
According to scientists from NASA, a final check on readiness to receive the capsule showed that everything went as planned. Examining samples from the asteroid Bennu will help unlock the secrets of how our solar system formed, and may also provide more insight into how life began on Earth.
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft began orbiting the asteroid Bennu in December 2018. After the spacecraft arrived at the space rock, it used its instruments to examine its surface and searched for a suitable place to land and collect local rock samples. In October 2020, OSIRIS-REx received the long-awaited samples that will reach Earth in less than a month.
By the way, scientists assumed that the Bennu asteroid had a solid surface, but to their great surprise, this surface was actually very loose. But this is what allowed the device to collect many samples.
The sample capsule will land in the Utah desert when OSIRIS-REx flies close to Earth. After that, the scientists will deliver the capsule to a special sterile laboratory at the military training ground. Samples from the capsule will then be transported to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas for further study.
According to American scientists, after a while, some of the samples collected from the asteroid Bennu will go to research centers around the world. Researchers want to learn more about how our solar system formed billions of years ago with the help of the samples obtained. After all, asteroids are a “time capsule” because they have remained almost in their original state since the birth of our star system 4.5 billion years ago.
One of the main purposes of the study is to search for organic molecules, that is, molecules that are the building blocks of life. Scientists now assume that carbon-rich asteroids like Bennu brought many of the organic molecules that are the basis of life to Earth. Also, such asteroids can carry water to our planet.
Focus He has already written that scientists have conducted a study on the famous meteorite and concluded that it is slightly older than Earth and has been torn from the failed planet of the solar system.
Source: Focus
Ashley Fitzgerald is an accomplished journalist in the field of technology. She currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a deep understanding of the latest technology developments, Ashley’s writing provides readers with insightful analysis and unique perspectives on the industry.