Learn about NASA’s “OSIRIS-REx” mission.. Why choose the asteroid Bennu?

October 11, 2023 is the date when the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will hold a big press conference. Disclosure of the results of the audit and analysis of the “dust sample” collected from the asteroid Bennu, one of the most dangerous asteroids in the solar system. After the capsule containing dust samples from the asteroid Bennu returned to Earth on September 24,

This important NASA mission, called the ‘Osiris-Rex’ mission, is the first mission in NASA’s space exploration history to send an unmanned spacecraft on a mobile flight to collect rock and dust samples at a very long distance. The asteroid and return it to Earth

And of course the question we want to know is NASA’s “OSIRIS-REx” mission, which sent an unmanned spacecraft to the asteroid Bennu. The round-trip distance is 1,900 million kilometers, and this mission took 7 years. What is its importance?

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission.

The mission, whose full name is “The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer” or abbreviated “OSIRIS-REx,” is sending a spacecraft to collect rock samples from the 4,500-million-year-old asteroid Bennu.

NASA has installed important equipment. Lots of things on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft whether it’s multiple cameras to be used to take important images while the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is on a mission to collect samples of rocks and dust from the asteroid Bennu.

In addition, 3D mapping equipment has been installed to allow scientists on Earth to create 3D models from photographic samples of asteroid Bennu. Find a suitable place to land the spacecraft. Also including the installation of a thermometer. Mineralogical and chemical composition map and X-ray and infrared view

NASA is pursuing the 7-year “OSIRIS-REx” mission

– September 8, 2016, NASA launched a rocket carrying the Osiris-Rex spacecraft from Florida into space.

– September 2017, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft gets help from Earth’s gravity to propel itself on a long journey to the asteroid Bennu, 200 million miles from Earth.

– December 3, 2018, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft arrives at the asteroid Bennu.

– October 2020 Two years later, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft slowly landed on the asteroid Bennu. It has a pulling leg connected to the end of a 3-meter metal rod, and it collects rock samples from asteroids.

– May 2021, the Osiris spacecraft returns with a capsule containing samples of rock dust from the asteroid to Earth.

– September 24, 2023 A capsule collecting rock and dust samples from the asteroid Bennu separated from the Osiris-Rex spacecraft. The capsule is equipped with a heat shield. It entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed 15 times faster than a rifle bullet and landed safely on the ground via parachute. A desert area in the state of Utah in the western United States at 8:52 am local time.

I cried like a baby while sitting in the helicopter. Hearing that the parachute had opened to gently bring the capsule to Earth was an emotional moment for me. Because it’s a huge success.” Professor Dante Lauretta, principal investigator of the OSIRIS-REx mission, said he was humbled to see the seven-year mission come to fruition.

NASA scientists then recovered the capsule, considered a “scientific treasure chest,” and transported it by helicopter to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, California, to open the capsule.

Bennu, one of the most dangerous asteroids in the solar system

Asteroid Bennu was first discovered in 1999 and is a small mountain-sized asteroid. Measuring less than 500 meters in diameter and more than 4.5 billion years old, scientists originally named the asteroid 1999 RQ36.

Astronomers classify the Bennu asteroid as a “near-Earth object,” which is an asteroid or comet that has a chance of orbiting at a distance of 45 million kilometers from Earth, and this type of object has not yet been classified as a dangerous object. Just need to keep a special eye on it.

However, the asteroid Bennu has an orbit that is getting closer and closer to Earth. Since it orbits the Earth every 6 years, this makes this asteroid classified as the most likely asteroid to hit the Earth in the next 100 years.

From calculations scientists estimate that asteroid Bennu there is a small chance. Which will hit the world on September 24, 2182

Hoping to uncover the secrets of the origins of life in the solar system

Scientists believe that rock and dust samples collected from the asteroid Bennu will be able to help solve the important answer to where we humans came from? Written by Professor Dante Lauretta, leader of the mission’s research team. He told the BBC: When we received a 250-gram sample of rock dust from one of the asteroids to Earth. We will see things that were created before our world existed. Or perhaps it existed even before the birth of the solar system.

Scientists still believe that within 10 million years of the formation of the solar system, the chemical composition and minerals on the asteroid Bennu have already formed.

Scientists used telescopes to observe the asteroid Bennu. It was found that metallic carbon is the main component. Carbon may have played an important role in the formation of life on Earth, and for this reason the mission will take samples of rocks and dust from the asteroid Bennu for examination. This allowed scientists to know the composition of these minerals found on the asteroid Bennu.

The OSIRIS-REx mission may also help scientists better predict the long-term risks of near-Earth asteroids, such as Bennu, colliding with our planet.

Are rock samples from asteroids dangerous?

One concern about missions to collect rock samples from asteroids is whether or not they will be dangerous. In this story, Harold Connolly, who works at Rowan University and is a scientist. A researcher involved in rock samples on the OSIRIS-REx mission told Al Jazeera: The samples collected from the asteroid Bennu were not contaminated with pathogens. Whether it’s a virus or bacteria

Harold Connolly has compared this mission to the collection of rock samples on the Moon in the Apollo 11 mission (Apollo 11) that at the time there were concerns about the dangers of the rock samples collected from the Moon such as each other and after using animals to test those minerals to see if they were harmful or not. no. The test animals were found to be safe.

“Little germs don’t grow.” NASA decided it was safe to stop testing for the dangers of lunar minerals. Which may happen to experimental animals, and the quarantine of astronauts was stopped. Including a team of technical staff in the laboratory has worked with samples collected from the Moon on the Apollo 14 mission in 1971.

Revealing the mystery of the black dust emitted from the asteroid Bennu?

After a team of NASA scientists wore protective suits, a capsule was opened to collect rock samples from the asteroid Bennu. In the sterile laboratory at NASA’s Johnson Space Center on September 27, we found black dust and sand-sized particles inside the capsule’s silver cylinder. It has made the world very concerned that Could the mysterious black dust from asteroid Bennu be dangerous?

While NASA stated that this mysterious black dust will be analyzed as soon as possible. To check what it is

However, Dr. Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University in Canberra, said: This fine dust appears to come from the asteroid Bennu. Because asteroid dust is very black. Moreover, when the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft was collecting rock and dust samples, the cylinder cover was not open most of the time.

While NASA issued a brief statement acknowledging that in October 2020, there was a leak of material collected from the surface of the asteroid Bennu. Because there was a stone stuck in the machine.

Professor Trevor Ireland, a geochemist at the University of Queensland, agrees that the mysterious black dust in the capsule’s cylinder rose while sampling the rocks.

“Under the slightest force of gravity.” Nothing can stop dust from flying everywhere. And sometimes the dust comes from the spaceship, too.

Author: Aranya Srishantanit