Hello and welcome to my new video. An asteroid sample collected by NASA has touched down on Earth, giving scientists the opportunity to learn more about the origins of the solar system and capturing a piece of a massive space rock that has a chance of colliding with our planet in the future. It’s the first time the agency has accomplished such a feat.
Seven years after launching to space, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft flew by Earth Sunday to deliver the pristine sample from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu.
OSIRIS-REx, which stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer, lifted off in 2016 and began orbiting Bennu in 2018. The spacecraft collected the sample in 2020 and set off on its lengthy return trip to Earth in May 2021. The mission traveled 3.86 billion miles total to Bennu and back. Details about the sample will be revealed through a NASA broadcast from Johnson Space Center on October 11. While the science team will not have had time to fully assess the sample, the researchers plan to collect some fine-grained material at the top of canister Tuesday for a quick analysis that can be shared in October, Lauretta said. The initial analysis will look for the presence of minerals and chemical elements, he said. Scientists will analyze the rocks and soil for the next two years at a dedicated clean room inside Johnson Space Center. The sample will also be divided up and sent to laboratories around the globe, including OSIRIS-REx mission partners at the Canadian Space Agency and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. About 70% of the sample will remain pristine in storage so future generations with better technology can learn even more than what’s now possible.
If a government shutdown occurs, “it will not endanger the curation and safe handling of the asteroid sample,” said Lori Glaze, director for NASA’s Planetary Sciences Division.
“Certain steps leading to this highly anticipated analysis will possibly be delayed, but the sample will remain protected and safe despite any disruptions to the schedule,” she said during a news conference Friday. “The sample has waited for more than 4 billion years for humans to study it and if it takes us a little longer, I think we’ll be OK. Along with a previously returned sample of the asteroid Ryugu from Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission, the rocks and soil could reveal key information about the beginning of our solar system. Scientists believe that carbonaceous asteroids such as Bennu crashed into Earth early during the planet’s formation, delivering elements like water.
“Scientists believe that the asteroid Bennu is representative of the solar system’s own oldest materials forged in large dying stars and supernova explosions,” Glaze said. “And for this reason, NASA is investing in these missions devoted to small bodies to increase our understanding of how our solar system formed and how it evolved.”
But the sample can also provide insights into Bennu, which has a chance of colliding with Earth in the future. It’s crucial to understand more about the population of near-Earth asteroids that may be on an eventual collision course with our planet. A better grasp of their composition and orbits is key to predicting which asteroids may have the closest approaches to Earth and when and essential to developing methods of deflecting these asteroids based on their composition. Thank you for watching.
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