NASA capsule carrying samples from asteroid will return to Earth on Sunday

A NASA capsule will land Sunday in the Utah desert after a seven-year space journey carrying rocks and dust from the asteroid Bennu, which promises to provide unique insights into the formation of the solar system.

This will be the first time that NASA, the US space agency, will be able to bring samples from an asteroid to Earth. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency managed to collect asteroid debris in 2020, but it was a minimal amount.

This NASA mission, called Osiris-Rex, hopes to collect 250 grams of the asteroid Bennu, although what it contains will only be known for sure when the capsule is opened on September 26, agency scientists explained at a press conference. North American space, quoted by the EFE news agency.

Experts believe that asteroid Bennu contains molecules that arose during the formation of the solar system 4,500 million years ago, and that it may provide some answers to questions that have intrigued humanity for centuries, such as the origin of life and the solar system itself. .

NASA chose Bennu specifically because it is relatively rich in organic molecules and could help answer one of science’s greatest unknowns: How did Earth manage to have an abundance of organic molecules and liquid water, two key ingredients for life?

Besides Bennu’s composition, another reason scientists chose it is that it has a well-known orbit, which made it easier for the Osiris-Rex spacecraft to get close to it to collect samples.

Discovered in 1999, Bennu is believed to have formed from fragments of a much larger asteroid after a collision. It’s about the height of the Empire State Building, and its black, rough surface is filled with large rocks.

Additionally, there is a small chance that Bennu will collide with Earth within 159 years, and although this probability is only 0.057%, this NASA mission will also help see how to change the asteroid’s trajectory if necessary, Argentinian Lucas Paganini told EFE: Scientist NASA.

The journey began in 2016 when the Osiris-Rex spacecraft left NASA’s Cape Canaveral, Florida, facility. It arrived at Bennu in 2018 and, after orbiting the asteroid for two years looking for the best location to collect samples, the spacecraft approached the surface to retrieve dust and chunks of rock.

If all goes according to plan, the capsule will land at 08:55 local time (15:55 Lisbon time) in the Utah desert, then be transported by helicopter to a military base before being flown to Houston on Monday. , where NASA’s Johnson Space Center is located and where scientists will analyze the samples.