asa’s first-ever asteroid sample-return mission is about to land on Earth.
In October 2020, the $1 billion Osiris-Rex mission efficiently collected a pattern from the asteroid Bennu, which can now be landed on Earth by the spacecraft’s descending capsule.
Here’s what we all know concerning the Nasa mission.
What’s Nasa’s Osiris-Rex mission?
Osiris-Rex (which stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Useful resource Identification, Safety-Regolith Explorer) is the first US mission to gather a pattern from Bennu, a tiny, near-Earth asteroid that orbits the planet each six years or so.
The pattern capsule shall be launched by the Osiris-Rex spacecraft and is meant to land safely within the Utah desert.
Nasa believes that about 700 million to 2 billion years in the past, Bennu in all probability cut up off from a a lot bigger carbon-rich asteroid. It’s more likely to have shaped within the Major Asteroid Belt, which is the area between Mars and Jupiter, and has subsequently moved a lot nearer to Earth.
As a result of age of its constituent components, Bennu could embody natural compounds which can be associated to those who could have contributed to the emergence of life on Earth. The rocks and dirt from the floor of Bennu, which had been recovered in October 2020, will present scientists with a glimpse into the time frame when the Solar and planets had been forming, some 4.5 billion years in the past.
As tall because the Empire State Constructing, the chance of Bennu colliding with Earth throughout one among its shut encounters with the planet within the late twenty second century is estimated by scientists to be 1 in 2,700 however it’s almost definitely to hit Venus.
Wonderful photos from the James Webb House Telescope
When will the Osiris-Rex capsule enter Earth’s ambiance?
On Could 10, 2021, Osiris-Rex left the Bennu neighborhood to go in direction of Earth, the place its capsule is predicted to land on September 24 with the asteroid pattern. You possibly can watch the touchdown, which is predicted at about 3.55pm BST, stay on YouTube.
Bennu was first detected on September 11, 1999, throughout a survey by astronomers on the Lincoln Laboratory Close to Earth Analysis close to Socorro, New Mexico. Its identify got here from a third-grader known as Michael Puzio who gained the naming contest.
What’s subsequent for Nasa?
A information convention for the Osiris-Rex asteroid pattern reveal is scheduled by Nasa for October 11.
Whereas investigations into the Bennu pattern are underway on Earth, the spacecraft will begin a brand new mission known as Osiris-Apophis Explorer (Osiris-Apex) wherein it would set off for an encounter with the asteroid Apophis in 2029.
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