NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission achieved a major milestone as its asteroid sample made a second touchdown in just two days. The sample, collected from the asteroid Bennu in October 2020, was transported to the Utah desert before being sent to its final destination in Houston, Texas.
The team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston excitedly welcomed the arrival of the sample, expressing their plans to curate and preserve it there. This precious material holds the potential to provide valuable insights into planetary formation, the origins of life, and the impact of asteroids on Earth.
The OSIRIS-REx mission, which began in September 2016, reached Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid, in December 2018. For 22 months, the probe studied Bennu up close before successfully grabbing a sample, marking a historic first for NASA. The probe then released its sample capsule, which safely landed in Utah as planned.
Now, the Bennu sample will undergo comprehensive studies at a curation facility located at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Scientists estimate that this process will take approximately two years. The main scientific goals of the mission include enhancing our understanding of the formation and evolution of the solar system, as well as investigating the role of carbon-rich asteroids in delivering the building blocks of life to Earth.
The scientific team working on the mission will have access to approximately 25% of the Bennu material, with a portion being shared with the Canadian Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The remaining 70% of the sample will be carefully stored at Johnson Space Center for future investigations.
Overall, the arrival of the Bennu sample marks a significant achievement for the OSIRIS-REx mission, aiming to unravel the mysteries of our solar system. As scientists delve into the precious material collected from the asteroid, they hope to uncover valuable knowledge about the history and composition of our cosmic neighborhood.
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