Liputan6.com, Jakarta – After seven years of being launched into space, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx space probe returned to Earth carrying original samples of the asteroid Bennu. These asteroid samples will be studied further by scientists looking for clues to the origins of life.
Reported Ars Technica, Monday (25/9/2023), the OSIRIS-REx mission is to bring back the largest sample of unexplored material ever returned to Earth from outside the moon. The sample brought weighs around 250 grams, or approximately 8 ounces.
This is the third asteroid sampling mission in history and the first for the United States. Previously, in 2010 and 2020, two Japanese spacecraft brought smaller quantities of asteroid specimens to Earth.
OSIRIS-REx took off in 2016 and began orbiting Bennu in 2018. Then in 2020, this spacecraft collected asteroid samples and returned to Earth in May 2021, as quoted from CNN.
At the end of its 4 billion-mile space journey, the parent spacecraft OSIRIS-REx released a 32-inch-wide (81 centimeters) sample return capsule Sunday morning as it hurtled toward Earth.
More than four hours later, the capsule landed on Test and Training Range US Air Force southwest of Salt Lake City at 08:52 local time (10:52 EDT or 14:52 UTC).
The capsule had to face temperatures of more than 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit after hitting the atmosphere at 27,650 mph (12.3 kilometers per second).
Radar sensors and infrared tracking cameras caught a glimpse of the OSIRIS-REx capsule as aerodynamic forces immediately slowed the vehicle. This makes it 32 times the force of Earth’s gravity before the main parachute opens at an altitude of about 20,000 feet (6,100 meters).
This main parachute slows the capsule’s descent to the desert surface at a speed of about 10 to 11 mph (17 kilometers per hour). The capsule landed several minutes ahead of schedule.
2023-09-25 12:00:12
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