Asteroid Bennu. (instagram/NASA)
Hitekno.com – NASA print history by successfully sampling from the surface asteroid Bennu to be later researched in Earth. Not many know, apparently asteroid it falls into the category of dangerous extraterrestrial objects.
For information, the Bennu asteroid sampling mission is called OSIRIS-REx and has been carried out since September 2016. This US $ 800 million worth mission just landed on the asteroid Bennu in December 2018.
In this OSIRIS-REx mission, NASA managed to bring a capsule filled with samples in the Utah Desert. The mission team predicts OSIRIS-REx to collect at least 60 grams of samples, the minimum amount targeted.
Launching from Space.com, this sample from the asteroid Bennu is the largest cosmic sample brought to Earth by NASA following the arrival of Moon rocks in 1969 to 1972.
The reason scientists are trying to bring samples of the asteroid Bennu back to Earth is because they want to study it in depth. Scientists believe that this asteroid is so rich in carbon that it played a role in fueling early Earth life.
Reporting from NASA, there are several things that need to be understood about the asteroid Bennu. The Bennu asteroid is believed to be an extraterrestrial object that is potentially dangerous to Earth.
The Bennu asteroid contains carbon, which reflects about 4 percent of light. These extraterrestrial bodies have not undergone drastic changes that have altered their composition. This then made the asteroid so dark and dense.
Scientists believe that the asteroid Bennu formed in the first 10 million years of the solar system’s history. It is believed that this asteroid formed about 4.5 billion years ago.
Another fact about the asteroid Bennu is that this space object is made of many rocky pieces of debris compressed by gravity. The surface of this asteroid is full of holes with 20 to 40 percent of its volume being empty space.
The Bennu asteroid has a 1 in 2,700 chance of hitting Earth in 2175 and 2199. This then makes research related to the Bennu asteroid important for NASA to know how to handle this asteroid hitting Earth.
– .
