NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spaceship Returns to Earth Carrying Samples of Dangerous Asteroid Bennu

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is scheduled to return to Earth on September 24, carrying samples of the potentially dangerous asteroid Bennu. Photo/NASA/Live Science

WASHINGTON – Spaceship NASA’s OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to return to Earth on September 24, carrying samples of the potentially hazardous asteroid Bennu nearby. The return home of OSIRIS-REx marks the climax of a 7-year mission as the first spacecraft to land on asteroid .

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft was launched in 2016 to collect samples from asteroids. Once analyzed, the samples are expected to provide important details about how life in the solar system began and about the movement of asteroids that threaten to hit Earth.

The OSIRIS-REx (short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) spacecraft was developed for NASA by Lockheed Martin. The spacecraft is about the size of a van and, when fully fueled, weighs about 2,110 kilograms.

OSIRIS-REx is equipped with a 3 meter long sample arm to retrieve boulders from asteroids. In addition, it is equipped with folding solar panels, internal cameras and equipment to map the surface of the asteroid Bennu.

After the sample is returned to Earth, OSIRIS-REx will be launched again in 2029 targeting the asteroid Apophis. This is a potentially dangerous near-Earth asteroid loaded with interesting subsurface material.

OSIRIS-REx’s first target, however, is the asteroid Bennu, a 77.5 million metric ton space rock. This asteroid is expected to fly within 7.5 million kilometers of Earth’s orbit between 2175 and 2199.

If Bennu, which is as wide as the Empire State Building, were to be slammed into Earth, the estimated kinetic energy released would be 1,200 megatons. This power is approximately 80,000 times greater than the energy of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.

It is not yet known whether this collision will occur. The estimated probability is very small, namely only 1 in 2,700. However, unexpected changes to Bennu’s orbit, constantly caused by tiny nudges from starlight, could still shift him onto a collision course with Earth.

(wib)

2023-08-28 15:59:25
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