OSIRIS-REx's Asteroid Samples Are Finally Down to Earth

Samples of dust and particles from the 'most dangerous rock in the solar system' have been brought back to Earth. The American space agency NASA landed this material in a capsule that landed in the western desert of the state of Utah. These samples were obtained from the surface of asteroid Bennu by the Osiris Rex spacecraft in 2020. NASA Learn more about this rock. wants, not only because there is an outside chance of it hitting our planet in the next 300 years, but more than that, the samples will provide new insights into the formation of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago and potentially but how did life begin in our world? When the Osiris Rex team saw the capsule on camera, there was a wave of joy.

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Department of Defense

The landing on desert land belonging to the Department of Defense was confirmed by NASA at 10:52 local time. The heat shield and parachute slowed its descent and slowly dropped it to the ground. Scientists are eager to examine the precious cargo, which is estimated to weigh 250 kg before landing. gram. One scientist says that sounds low, but it's enough for the kinds of tests NASA's teams want to do.

University of Arizona

"Some of our instruments look at the atoms that make up the crystals inside these rocks," says Osiris Rex principal investigator Dante Loretta. The scenario. The University of Arizona professor told the BBC that we will be working on this material for decades into the future. The asteroid was studied. Scientists are expecting that these samples will provide new information about the formation of planets 4.5 billion years ago and possibly about the beginning of life on our world.

Space mountain

The Osiris Rex spacecraft left Earth for Bennu in 2016. It is likely to collide with our Earth at the end of the next century. It took the mission two years to reach the 500-meter-wide rock and for two years it observed the “space mountain” after which it dropped the rock. Landed and obtained samples. It was a very complicated and difficult task.

Genesis capsule

Earlier in 2004, the Genesis capsule carrying solar wind samples failed to deploy its parachute and fell at a speed of 300 km/h, causing it to break open. "We understand the error that occurred in the Genesis was that some of the gravity switches were installed upside down," said Richard Witherspoon from Lockheed Martin, the capsule maker. Meteorologists at the Utah Test and Training Range released weather balloons over the past few days to get the latest information to help with the final drop. The biggest concern is that this year's rains will drain the water in the desert. It was pit and mud.

Carbonaceous asteroid

Bino samples in the capsule will be sealed in nitrogen and transported to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas where detailed analysis can begin. "Beno is called a hum carbonaceous asteroid," explained Christopher Stead, Osiris Rex's deputy curator. "Scientists think these types of meteorites form planets from the beginning of the Milky Way," he says. There you can find the inclusions and materials that formed the planets, the elements that formed our Earth, and perhaps the compounds that started life on Earth. have been granted and it is expected to reach there by the year 2029.

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