Tuesday, 26 September 2023 | 20:17 WIB
Ani Nur Iqrimah / TCE
Asteroid Bennu.
Jakarta, Beritasatu.com – Bennu asteroid samples arrived on Earth on Sunday (24/09/2023), marking the end of the 7-year Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resources Identification and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission.
It is believed that a collection of Bennu asteroid samples can reveal the origins of life on Earth, which were carried by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and landed safely in Utah, United States (US). But what is the reason this collection of stones is so important? The following is the explanation.
Bennu Asteroid Samples Are Very Important
Asteroid Bennu is a celestial body that is close to Earth at a distance of only 200 million miles. Like other asteroids, the asteroid Bennu is a geological remnant of a disk protoplanet a swirling mixture of gas and dust, eventually coalescing into planets that circled the Sun billions of years ago. It is claimed that small worlds such as the asteroid Bennu seed the Earth with probiotic ingredients for life.
Apart from revealing the origins of life on Earth, the asteroid Bennu has also been classified as a potentially dangerous object on Earth. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA previously estimated there was a 1 in 2,700 chance of the asteroid Bennu hitting Earth in 2175 or 2199.
This is what makes researchers hope that samples of the asteroid Bennu will reveal clues about the birth of the solar system, the origins of life on Earth, and its potential to hit Earth.
Asteroid samples have also been brought to Earth
This is not the first asteroid chunk brought to Earth. In 2010, the Hayabusa mission led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency or JAXA, also succeeded in bringing back less than one milligram of material from a near-Earth asteroid called Itokawa.
A decade later on a follow-up mission, Hayabusa 2 also took several rock samples from Ryugu. With these samples, scientists have found evidence that suggests asteroids delivered water early in Earth’s life and discovered the presence of uracil, a building block of RNA or a molecule that helps form proteins.
Bennu Asteroid Samples Increase Knowledge
Sending samples of the asteroid Bennu with OSIRIS-REX will add to the collection of space rocks. NASA researchers anticipate about half a pound of asteroid samples will not be stained.
Next, the capsule containing samples of the asteroid Bennu will be transported to a temporary clean room at the Utah military range. Then, the samples will be moved to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston. The researchers plan to open the capsule today for curation and storage.
Samples of the asteroid Bennu will then be sent to researchers around the world, to study them for various purposes. For example, they will look for clues about the early days of the solar system, which may be hidden in ancient primitive asteroids.
In October, sample researchers will reveal the first results to the world, including the composition of the asteroid Bennu and how it compares to material brought by Japan.
The next mission is OSIRIS-Apophis Explorer (OSIRIS-APEX)
The OSIRIS-REx mission may have ended, but the spacecraft remains fully operational in space. Next, it will visit Apophis, another near-Earth asteroid that was once seen as a major threat to hitting Earth. More recent measurements suggest the asteroid will pass Earth in 2029.
This new project is named OSIRIS-APEX, which means Apophis Explorer, and can provide information to know the asteroid Apophis and reduce more dangerous encounters with asteroids.
2023-09-26 13:17:56
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