OSIRIS-REx
After NASA’s OSIRIS-REx probe successfully dropped the asteroid Bennu from orbit at the end of last month and landed at the Utah test and training site, NASA scientists carefully removed its contents from the protective capsule and conducted Preliminary analysis and classification. At a press conference earlier, NASA disclosed the results of preliminary analysis and how the materials will be applied in the future.
The OSIRIS-REx mission was scheduled to load about 60g of material and return to Earth to be considered a “mission success.” However, when scientists opened the hatch cover, they found that there were still a lot of unexpected materials stuck everywhere outside the storage jars. In order to collect these “unexpected surprises”, the team took a little extra time to take out all the materials from the cabin. The final total is still being calculated, but it is estimated to be more than 250g.
OSIRIS-REx
At present, the team has only analyzed one small stone and found that about 5% of its composition is carbon, and there is a large amount of water in it in the form of various hydrated minerals. This makes the source of water on the earth’s surface not only comets, but also asteroids. In the future, scientists will naturally further analyze all samples and obtain the precise proportions of various elements and minerals to infer the composition of the solar system when the earth was formed.
NASA is currently sorting and recording all the samples, and it is expected that 70% of them will remain at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center where they are currently stored for scientists to study at the facility. A small part (0.5%) of the remaining material will be given to the Japanese Space Agency JAXA as a gift in return for JAXA giving a small part of the Ryugu asteroid material collected by Hayabusa 2 to NASA; while the other part will be stored in the United States. It is on display at the Smithsonian Museum, the Houston Space Center and the University of Arizona for the general public to view.
