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NASA spacecraft is delivering the biggest sample yet from an
asteroid. The “OSIRIS-REx” spacecraft at
the asteroid Bennu on September 24, 2023, will fly by Earth and drop off what
is expected to be at least a cupful of rubble it grabbed from the asteroid
Bennu, closing out a seven-year quest.
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- The sample capsule
will parachute into the Utah desert as its mothership, the Osiris-Rex
spacecraft, zooms off for an encounter with another asteroid. Scientists anticipate getting about a half
pound (250 grams) of pebbles and dust, much more than the teaspoon or so
brought back by Japan from two other asteroids. No other country has fetched
pieces of asteroids, preserved time capsules from the dawn of our solar system
that can help explain how Earth and life came to be.
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- The landing will
conclude a 4 billion-mile journey
highlighted by the rendezvous with the carbon-rich Bennu, a unique pogo
stick-style touchdown and sample grab.
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- Asteroid chaser
“Osiris-Rex” blasted off on the $1 billion mission in 2016. It arrived at Bennu
in 2018 and spent the next two years flying around the small spinning space
rock and scouting out the best place to grab samples. Three years ago, the
spacecraft swooped in and reached out with its 11-foot stick vacuum,
momentarily touching the asteroid's surface and sucking up dust and pebbles.
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- The device pressed
down with such force and grabbed so much that rocks became wedged around the
rim of the lid. As samples drifted off into space, they scrambled to get the
remaining material into the capsule. The exact amount inside won't be known
until the container is opened.
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- Discovered in
1999, Bennu is believed to be a remnant of a much larger asteroid that collided
with another space rock. It's barely one-third of a mile wide, roughly the
height of the Empire State Building, and its black rugged surface is packed
with boulders.
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- Roundish in shape
like a spinning top, Bennu orbits the sun every 14 months, while rotating every
four hours. Scientists believe Bennu holds leftovers from the solar system's
formation 4.5 billion years ago. It may come dangerously close and strike Earth
on September 24, 2182, exactly 159 years after the asteroid's first pieces
arrive. -
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- Osiris-Rex will
release the sample capsule from 63,000 miles out, four hours before it's due to
touch down at the Utah Test and Training Range on Sunday morning. The release
command will come from spacecraft builder Lockheed Martin's control center in
Colorado.
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- Soon afterward, the
mothership will steer away and take off to explore another asteroid. The
capsule, nearly 3 feet wide and 1.6 feet tall, will hit the atmosphere at
27,650 mph for the final 13 minutes of descent remaining. The main parachute
will slow the last mile, allowing for a mild 11 mph touchdown.
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- A plane will carry
the sealed container full of rubble to Houston, Johnson Space Center. NASA is livestreaming this touchdown. The new lab at Johnson will be limited to the
Bennu rubble to avoid cross-contamination with other collections.
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- Building 31 already
holds the moon rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts from 1969 through
1972, as well as comet dust and specks of solar wind collected during two
previous missions and Mars meteorites found in Antarctica. The asteroid samples
will be handled inside nitrogen-purging gloveboxes by staff in head-to-toe
clean room suits.
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- The Osiris-Rex
touchdown will be followed by the launch of another asteroid hunter on October
5. Both the NASA spacecraft and its target, a metal asteroid, are named
“Psyche”. Then a month later, NASA's “Lucy” spacecraft will encounter its first
asteroid since soaring from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2021.
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- Lucy will swoop
past “Dinkinesh” in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter on November
1. It's a warmup for Lucy's unprecedented tour of the so-called Trojans, swarms
of asteroids that shadow Jupiter around the sun. Neither Psyche nor Lucy will
collect souvenirs, nor will Osiris-Rex on its next assignment, to explore the
asteroid Apophis in 2029.
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- This is NASA's
third sample return from deep space, not counting the hundreds of pounds of
moon rocks gathered by the Apollo astronauts. The agency's first robotic sample
grab ended with a bang in 2004. The capsule bearing solar wind particles
slammed into the Utah desert and shattered, compromising the samples.
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- Two years later, a
U.S. capsule with comet dust landed intact. Japan's first asteroid sample
mission returned microscopic grains from asteroid “Itokawa” in 2010. It's
second trip yielded about 5 grams from the asteroid “Ryugu” in 2020. The Soviet
Union transported moon samples to Earth during the 1970s, and China returned
lunar material in 2020.
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September 22, 2023 ASTEROID
RETURN SAMPLE 4163
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