The OSIRIS-REx probe launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida in 2016 | Photo: Keegan Barber | Source: NASA
After seven years and billions of kilometers traveling through the Solar System, the American probe Osiris-Rex returned to Earth on Sunday. She brought with her several hundred grams of rock from the planet Bennu, which circles the Sun between the orbits of Earth and Mars. The case contains samples of rocks and the original material from which our Solar System was formed.
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13:27 September 25, 2023 Share on Facebook
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The sample box launched by the probe from orbit landed in the desert in Utah, USA, three minutes earlier than expected.
Within an hour and a half, she was airlifted to a temporary clean room set up in a hangar on the training ground, where she was connected to a continuous flow of nitrogen. According to scientists from NASA, connecting to nitrogen was the riskiest step they have taken with the box so far.
The Bennu specimen weighs an estimated 250 grams, according to NASA. “On Monday, it will be flown in an unopened case to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Curating scientists will disassemble the case, remove and weigh a sample, create an inventory of rocks and dust, and distribute pieces of Bennu to scientists around the world over time,” NASA said.
The OSIRIS-REx probe launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida in 2016. It collected samples in 2020, when it descended to the planet’s surface and collected samples using a robotic arm. He is currently on his way to a new mission to the planet Apophis. According to calculations, it will fly around the Earth in 2029 at a distance of 32,000 kilometers.
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2023-09-25 11:27:00
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