The US space agency is preparing for the arrival of precious samples from the Bennu asteroid

NASA's laboratory in Houston is eagerly preparing to receive samples from the asteroid Bennu, located more than 300 million kilometers away from Earth. These precious fragments were collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in 2020 and are set to return to Earth in September.

The extracted samples will provide a better understanding of the origin of the solar system and how Earth became habitable.

This mission marks NASA's first attempt to extract and bring back an asteroid sample to Earth. Japan has previously executed similar missions, with the Hayabusa2 spacecraft bringing back about 5.4 grams of samples from the asteroid Ryugu in 2020.

NASA hopes that the capsule of the spacecraft will contain approximately 250 grams of samples.

The touchdown is scheduled for September 24th at a military base in the Utah desert, in the western United States, exactly seven years after OSIRIS-REx took off from Florida in September 2016.

Afterward, the samples will be transported to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where they will be placed in a large metal and glass container equipped with long white gloves on its sides. Scientists will use these gloves to handle the samples and conduct necessary analyses.

Keeping the samples in a sterile and tightly sealed environment is crucial to avoid contamination once the capsule is opened, which requires careful work lasting several days.

According to Nicole Lunning, the NASA official in charge of storing the samples, "Based on asteroid monitoring results, we expect a lot of very dark rocks of several types, which may contain carbon and organic compounds."

She explained that these compounds represent "the basic elements of life," but clarified that they are not life forms themselves.

Lunning stated, "This is actually what motivated the idea of collecting these samples, as exploring this type of asteroid helps us understand the initial elements that nourished life on Earth."

- Components of Planet Earth -

Not all samples will undergo immediate analysis; some will be preserved to enable future generations to study them with new technologies.

This approach was also applied to the samples brought back from the moon by the Apollo astronauts, most of which are preserved at the Johnson Space Center.

Unlike asteroid fragments that are occasionally found on Earth due to natural collisions, Bennu's pieces will not be contaminated by entering the atmosphere.

Geological chemist at NASA, Eve Berger, who is eagerly awaiting the arrival of the samples, stated, "These samples did not collide with Earth (...) and have been exposed only to space."

Analyzing the composition of asteroids in the solar system is crucial as they are made of the same materials that formed the planets, but they remained intact.

Eve Berger added, "This will help us understand what was available" at that time, and "if we can understand what happened on Earth, it can help us infer for other celestial bodies."

Could these samples help discover unprecedented data? The scientist replied, "Who knows (...) we will know more in a few months, but it will be fantastic."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AFP