Calay News
The sample, made up of rocks and dust collected from the asteroid, will be returned to Earth aboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which is the first US mission of its kind and launched in 2016, reaching the asteroid in 2018 and collecting material from its surface in 2020. Scientists hope this material contains the building blocks of life and may shed light on precursors that may have fostered life in our solar system and on Earth.
The process of conservation and analysis of the samples will be carried out with great care to avoid contamination and allow a detailed study of the content. Researchers at the Johnson Space Center, who have worked with samples brought back from the lunar surface on Apollo missions, are prepared to receive and handle the material from asteroid Bennu when it arrives on September 24.
Cosmochemist Eve Berger is eager to analyze Bennu’s organic parts in her lab, as these samples have not been exposed to Earth’s atmosphere and have lingered in hostile space for billions of years. The study of these samples will make it possible to confirm or refute theories about the origin of life and will provide valuable information about the formation of the solar system approximately 4,500 million years ago.
Bennu is an intriguing asteroid, and studying it promises to yield new information that will help to better understand the processes that took place during the formation of the solar system and that could have been crucial for the development of life on Earth and other celestial bodies. The OSIRIS-REx mission represents an exciting step forward in space exploration and will open the door for future research that will expand our understanding of the cosmos.
