On Sunday, the American probe “OSIRIS-REx” unloaded a valuable scientific payload in the Utah desert in the United States, which is the first samples from an asteroid brought to Earth by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and it is the largest sample ever collected to date from a similar astronomical object.
Scientists hope that these samples collected in 2020 from the asteroid “Bennu” will help clarify the origin of the solar system and the development of the Earth as a habitable planet.
The landing is scheduled to take place around nine o’clock on Sunday morning local time (15:00 GMT) in a military area usually used to test missiles.
The OSIRIS-REx probe launches the capsule containing the samples at an altitude of 100,000 kilometers above Earth, about four hours before landing.
The capsule’s final landing in the Earth’s atmosphere takes 13 minutes, as it enters it at a speed of about 44,000 kilometers per hour, and the resulting friction raises the temperature to 2,700 degrees Celsius.
The descent, monitored by military sensors, will be slowed by two parachutes in succession, providing a smooth landing if all goes well.
The landing spot is 58 kilometers long and 14 kilometers wide. Mission Director at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Rich Burns, said during a press conference in late August that it was like “throwing an arrow across a basketball court and hitting the middle of the target.”
It may be decided not to launch the capsule if it becomes clear the night before that it may not hit the designated area. In this case, the probe will orbit the sun before trying again to launch the capsule in 2025.
Sandra Freund from Lockheed Martin, the probe’s manufacturer, warned that “(space) sample return missions are difficult, as many problems may arise” during them.
A photo from NASA of the probe on the surface of asteroid Bennu (AP)
Measures were taken in anticipation of the possibility of a “hard landing.” An experiment was conducted at the end of August, during which a replica capsule was dropped from a helicopter.
When the capsule lands on Earth, a team checks its condition before placing it in a net that is lifted by a helicopter and transported to a temporary “clean room.”
The next day, the sample is sent by plane to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
In this center, the capsule opens inside another sealed room. Priority will be given to not contaminating the sample with dirt materials, so as not to spoil the analyzes and give false results. The process takes days.
NASA intends to hold a press conference on October 11 to announce the preliminary results.
However, part of the sample will be preserved without touching it, so that future generations can study it using techniques that are not yet available.
“OSIRIS-REx” was launched in 2016, and in 2020, “Bennu” surprised scientists during sample collection for a few seconds, as the probe’s arm was embedded in the surface of the asteroid, which showed that its density was much less than thought.
But thanks to this, NASA expects the sample to contain about 250 grams of material, much more than the originally set target of 60 grams. This is “the largest sample collected so far from a place outside the lunar orbit,” according to Melissa Morris, who is in charge of the program.
This mission is the first of its kind for the United States. But Japan has already organized two. In 2020, the Hayabusa probe returned microscopic grains from the asteroid Itokawa, while in 2020, Hayabusa 2 brought back about 5.4 grams from the asteroid Ryugu.
The asteroids “Bennu” and “Ryugu” are similar in appearance, but “Bennu” may turn out to be completely different in its composition, according to Melissa Morris.
Asteroids are interesting because they are composed of the original materials of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago. While these materials changed on Earth, the asteroids remained intact.
The mission’s chief scientist at the University of Arizona, Dante Lauretta, said that “Bennu” is rich in carbon, and the sample that was brought back “may represent the seeds of life that these asteroids carried at the beginning of our planet, which led to this amazing biosphere.”
“Bennu,” which has a diameter of 500 meters, orbits the sun and approaches Earth every six years.
There is a small risk (1 in 2700 chance) that it will collide with Earth in the year 2182, which could have a catastrophic impact. Providing more data about its composition may be useful. Last year, NASA was able to deviate an asteroid from its path by colliding with it.
