© Mark Ollig
About 4.5 billion years ago, a large carbon-rich asteroid formed between Mars and Jupiter in the main asteroid belt.
A powerful collision between 700 million and two billion years ago shattered this asteroid into fragments.
Some of these fragments escaped the asteroid belt and became near-Earth asteroids, including one that we now know as Bennu.
Bennu has acted like a time capsule, protecting its original elements from the damaging effects of heat, radiation, and impacts that have altered other asteroids.
Scientists believe it may contain some of the earliest materials in our planetary system.
Bennu is a carbon-rich remnant of the early solar system, which may have organic molecules similar to those that contributed to the origin of life on Earth.
Studying samples from asteroid Bennu will help us understand how our solar system formed and whether similar asteroids may have brought organic compounds and water to Earth.
NASA’s website states that asteroid Bennu has a diameter of approximately 1,670 feet and a weight of about 85.5 million tons.
It orbits the sun every 1.2 years, maintaining an average speed of 63,000 mph.
The mission of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) spacecraft was to obtain a sample from the Bennu asteroid and return it to Earth for study.
On Sept. 8, 2016, at 6:05 p.m. EDT, the 4,650-pound OSIRIS-REx spacecraft was launched aboard a 190-foot tall Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, FL.
I’m sure many of my readers know that Sept. 8, 2016, marked the 50th anniversary of the first episode of “Star Trek.”
After reaching space and detaching from the rocket, the spacecraft unfolded its fan-shaped solar panels extending from its sides to provide electricity for its systems and instruments during its lengthy mission to asteroid Bennu and back to Earth.
While in flight mode with its solar panels deployed, the spacecraft measures approximately 20.25 feet long by eight feet wide.
On board the spacecraft are high and low-gain antennae, a star tracker, a laser altimeter, spectrometers, and an X-ray imaging system to observe and analyze the asteroid.
After a two-year journey, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at Bennu Dec. 3, 2018, after traveling 1.2 billion miles while constantly adjusting its course to match Bennu’s orbit around the sun.
OSIRIS-REx began orbiting Bennu Dec. 31, 2018, and studied the asteroid for the next two years, mapping its surface and determining the best location for getting a surface sample.
On Oct. 20, 2020, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descended towards the surface of Bennu at a speed of about 0.2 mph.
The spacecraft, the size of a van, flew close to a specific area on the surface of Bennu. Then, it extended an 11-foot robotic arm with a round device called TAGSAM (Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism) attached to the end.
The TAGSAM came within a foot of Bennu’s surface, touched it briefly, and released nitrogen gas for about six seconds; rocks, pebbles, and dust were stirred and delivered into the TAGSAM device, which stored them in its capsule container.
Three 450-gram nitrogen gas bottles were stored on board the spacecraft; however, success was achieved using only one bottle, with the other two available as backups.
On May 10, 2021, having collected over half a pound of material from Bennu, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft began its journey back to Earth.
On Sept. 24, 2023, after a seven-year trip of more than four billion miles, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft released its sample return capsule about 63,000 miles above Earth.
Four hours later, as the capsule re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, traveling at approximately 27,650 mph, it experienced temperatures as high as 5,000 degrees.
Deploying two parachutes, the capsule’s rate of descent slowed, and it safely landed at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range, 80 miles west of Salt Lake City, UT.
The capsule’s canister of rock, pebbles, and dust from asteroid Bennu was transported to a clean room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX.
In addition to its scientific objectives, the Bennu mission also served to protect our planet.
Studying the asteroid’s orbit and trajectory enabled us to gather more information to assess the probability of it colliding with Earth.
Bennu has an estimated one in 2,700 chance of impacting our planet Sept. 24, 2182.
Don’t worry; NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office monitors near-earth asteroids and is developing strategies to redirect Bennu’s orbit away from Earth.
Stay tuned.
In the meantime, the material collected from asteroid Bennu, the solar system’s “time capsule” brought to Earth, will be shown during a live news conference at 11 a.m. ET or 10 a.m. CT Wednesday, Oct. 11, on NASA TV and at https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv.About 4.5 billion years ago, a large carbon-rich asteroid formed between Mars and Jupiter in the main asteroid belt.
A powerful collision between 700 million and two billion years ago shattered this asteroid into fragments.
Some of these fragments escaped the asteroid belt and became near-Earth asteroids, including one that we now know as Bennu.
Bennu has acted like a time capsule, protecting its original elements from the damaging effects of heat, radiation, and impacts that have altered other asteroids.
Scientists believe it may contain some of the earliest materials in our planetary system.
Bennu is a carbon-rich remnant of the early solar system, which may have organic molecules similar to those that contributed to the origin of life on Earth.
Studying samples from asteroid Bennu will help us understand how our solar system formed and whether similar asteroids may have brought organic compounds and water to Earth.
NASA’s website states that asteroid Bennu has a diameter of approximately 1,670 feet and a weight of about 85.5 million tons.
It orbits the sun every 1.2 years, maintaining an average speed of 63,000 mph.
The mission of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) spacecraft was to obtain a sample from the Bennu asteroid and return it to Earth for study.
On Sept. 8, 2016, at 6:05 p.m. EDT, the 4,650-pound OSIRIS-REx spacecraft was launched aboard a 190-foot tall Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, FL.
I’m sure many of my readers know that Sept. 8, 2016, marked the 50th anniversary of the first episode of “Star Trek.”
After reaching space and detaching from the rocket, the spacecraft unfolded its fan-shaped solar panels extending from its sides to provide electricity for its systems and instruments during its lengthy mission to asteroid Bennu and back to Earth.
While in flight mode with its solar panels deployed, the spacecraft measures approximately 20.25 feet long by eight feet wide.
On board the spacecraft are high and low-gain antennae, a star tracker, a laser altimeter, spectrometers, and an X-ray imaging system to observe and analyze the asteroid.
After a two-year journey, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at Bennu Dec. 3, 2018, after traveling 1.2 billion miles while constantly adjusting its course to match Bennu’s orbit around the sun.
OSIRIS-REx began orbiting Bennu Dec. 31, 2018, and studied the asteroid for the next two years, mapping its surface and determining the best location for getting a surface sample.
On Oct. 20, 2020, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descended towards the surface of Bennu at a speed of about 0.2 mph.
The spacecraft, the size of a van, flew close to a specific area on the surface of Bennu. Then, it extended an 11-foot robotic arm with a round device called TAGSAM (Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism) attached to the end.
The TAGSAM came within a foot of Bennu’s surface, touched it briefly, and released nitrogen gas for about six seconds; rocks, pebbles, and dust were stirred and delivered into the TAGSAM device, which stored them in its capsule container.
Three 450-gram nitrogen gas bottles were stored on board the spacecraft; however, success was achieved using only one bottle, with the other two available as backups.
On May 10, 2021, having collected over half a pound of material from Bennu, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft began its journey back to Earth.
On Sept. 24, 2023, after a seven-year trip of more than four billion miles, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft released its sample return capsule about 63,000 miles above Earth.
Four hours later, as the capsule re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, traveling at approximately 27,650 mph, it experienced temperatures as high as 5,000 degrees.
Deploying two parachutes, the capsule’s rate of descent slowed, and it safely landed at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range, 80 miles west of Salt Lake City, UT.
The capsule’s canister of rock, pebbles, and dust from asteroid Bennu was transported to a clean room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX.
In addition to its scientific objectives, the Bennu mission also served to protect our planet.
Studying the asteroid’s orbit and trajectory enabled us to gather more information to assess the probability of it colliding with Earth.
Bennu has an estimated one in 2,700 chance of impacting our planet Sept. 24, 2182.
Don’t worry; NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office monitors near-earth asteroids and is developing strategies to redirect Bennu’s orbit away from Earth.
Stay tuned.
In the meantime, the material collected from asteroid Bennu, the solar system’s “time capsule” brought to Earth, will be shown during a live news conference at 11 a.m. ET or 10 a.m. CT Wednesday, Oct. 11, on NASA TV and at https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv
 |
| Artist image of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft above the surface of the asteroid Bennu (Source: NASA) |