October 11, 2023 is the date the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will hold a big press conference. To reveal the results of the audit and analysis ‘Dust sample’ collected from asteroid Bennu One of the most dangerous asteroids in the solar system. After the capsule with dust samples from the asteroid Bennu returned to Earth on September 24,
This important mission of NASA, called the ‘OSIRIS-REx’ mission (Osiris-Rex), is the first mission in the history of NASA space exploration to send an unmanned spacecraft on a hitchhiking trip to collect rock samples and Dust on a very distant asteroid and bring it back to earth
Of course, the question we want to know is NASA’s ‘OSIRIS-REx’ mission that sent an unmanned spacecraft to the asteroid Bennu. The round-trip distance is 1,900 million kilometers, and this mission took a total of 7 years. What is its importance?
Drawing of the spacecraft on the ‘OSIRIS-REx’ mission.
NASA’s ‘OSIRIS-REx’ Mission
The mission sends a spacecraft to collect rock samples from the 4,500 million year old asteroid Bennu. Its full name is ‘The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer’ or abbreviated as ‘OSIRIS-REx’.
NASA has installed important equipment. Many things on the Osiris-Rex spaceship Whether it’s multiple cameras To be used to capture important images while the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is on a mission to collect rock and dust samples from the asteroid Bennu.
In addition, 3D mapping equipment has been installed to allow scientists on the ground to create three-dimensional models from sample photographs of the asteroid Bennu. To find a suitable spot for the spacecraft to land. Including also installing a thermometer. Mineral and chemical composition map and viewing with x-rays and infrared light
NASA follows up on 7-year ‘OSIRIS-REx’ mission
– September 8, 2016, NASA launched a rocket carrying the Osiris-Rex spacecraft from Florida into space.
– September 2017 ‘OSIRIS-REx’ spacecraft gets help from Earth’s gravity to propel itself on a long journey to the asteroid Bennu, 200 million miles from Earth.
– December 3, 2018, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft arrives at the asteroid Bennu.
– Oct. 2020 Two years later, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft slowly Landed on the asteroid Bennu. It has a traction leg attached to the end of a 3-metre-long metal rod and collects rock samples from asteroids.
– May 2021, the Osiris spacecraft with a capsule containing rock dust samples from the asteroid returns to Earth.
– September 24, 2023 A capsule collecting rock and dust samples from asteroid Bennu separated from the Osiris-Rex spacecraft. The capsule is equipped with a heat shield. It entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed 15 times faster than a rifle bullet and landed safely on Earth via parachute. Desert area in Utah in the western United States at 8:52 a.m. local time.
‘I cried like a baby while sitting in the helicopter. Hearing that the parachute had opened to gently bring the capsule down to earth It was an emotional moment for me. Because it is an astounding success’ Professor Dante Loretta, lead investigator of the OSIRIS-REx mission, said he was humbled to see the seven-year mission come to fruition.
NASA scientists then recovered and flew the capsule, which is considered a ‘scientific treasure box’, by helicopter to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, California. Texas to open the capsule
Asteroid Bennu
Bennu, one of the most dangerous asteroids in the solar system
Asteroid Bennu was first discovered in 1999 and is a small, mountain-sized asteroid. It is less than 500 meters in diameter and is more than 4.5 billion years old. Scientists originally named the asteroid ‘1999 RQ36’.
Astronomers classify Asteroid Bennu as a ‘near-Earth object’, which is an asteroid or comet that has a chance of orbiting within 45 million kilometers of Earth. This type of object is not yet classified as a hazardous object. Just need to keep a special eye on it.
But with that Asteroid Bennu It has an orbit that is moving closer and closer to Earth. As it orbits past Earth every 6 years, this makes this asteroid classified as the asteroid most likely to hit Earth in the next 100 years.
And from the calculations of scientists, it is estimated that Asteroid Bennu There’s a slight chance. that will hit the world on September 24, 2182
A capsule collecting rock samples from the asteroid Bennu returned to Earth and was launched into a desert area in the western U.S. state of Utah on Sept. 24, 2023.
Hoping to unlock the secrets of the origins of life in the solar system
Scientists believe that rock and dust samples collected from the asteroid Bennu Will be able to help solve the important answer that Where do we humans come from? By Professor Dante Loretta, Mission Research Team Leader Said to the BBC: When we received a 250 gram sample of rock dust from an asteroid back to Earth. We will see objects that were created before our world existed. Or it may have existed even before the birth of the solar system.
Scientists still believe that within 10 million years of the formation of the solar system The chemical composition and minerals on the asteroid Bennu have already formed.
Scientists used telescopes to observe the asteroid Bennu. It was found that the mineral carbon is the main component. Carbon may have played an important role in the formation of life on Earth. For this reason, the mission will take samples of rocks and dust from the asteroid Bennu to examine. This has allowed scientists to know about the composition of these minerals on the asteroid Bennu.
The OSIRIS-REx mission may also help scientists better predict the long-term risk of near-Earth asteroids, such as Bennu, colliding with our planet.
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will collect rock samples from the asteroid Bennu in 2020.
Are rock samples from asteroids dangerous?
One concern about missions to collect rock samples from asteroids is that That is, will it be dangerous or not? In this story, Harold Connolly, who works at ROWAN University and is a scientist. A co-investigator of rock samples on the OSIRIS-REx mission told Al Jazeera: Samples collected from asteroid Bennu were not contaminated with pathogens. Whether it’s a virus or bacteria
Harold Connolly has compared this mission to the collection of rock samples on the moon in the Apollo 11 mission (Apollo 11) that at that time there were concerns about the dangers of rock samples collected from the moon such as together And after using animals to test those minerals to see if they are harmful or not. It was found that the test animals were safe.
‘No small germs grow. And NASA has decided it is safe to stop testing the dangers of lunar minerals. that may occur to experimental animals It also stopped quarantining astronauts. including a team of technical staff in the lab It worked with samples collected from the moon on the Apollo 14 mission in 1971.
NASA notified via X or the original Twitter. Found black dust and powder the size of sand. Inside the cylinder is a rock sample collected from the asteroid Bennu.
Unraveling the mystery of black dust from the asteroid Bennu?
After a team of NASA scientists wearing protective suits A capsule has been opened to collect rock samples from the asteroid Bennu. at the sterile laboratory at NASA’s Johnson Space Center on Sept. 27 and found black dust and sand-sized particles inside the capsule’s silver cylinder. has made the people of the world quite worried that Could mysterious black dust from Asteroid Bennu be dangerous?
While NASA stated that This mysterious black dust will be analyzed as soon as possible. to check what it is
However, Dr Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University in Canberra Express your opinion on this matter: This fine dust appears to come from the asteroid Bennu. Because the asteroid dust is very black. and has resolution Moreover, when the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft was operating to collect rock and dust samples, most of the time the cylinder cover did not open.
While NASA released a brief statement acknowledging In October 2020, there was a leak of material collected from the surface of the asteroid Bennu. Because there was a stone stuck in the machine.
Professor Trevor Ireland, a geochemist at the University of Queensland Agree with the opinion that Mysterious black dust found in the capsule’s cylinder rose during rock sampling.
‘Under the slightest force of gravity Nothing can stop the dust from flying everywhere. And sometimes the dust comes from the spaceship as well.’
Author: Aranya Srichantanit
