NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, a seven-year endeavor to gather rocks and dust from a near-Earth asteroid, achieved a significant milestone with the safe return of the sample capsule on the morning of September 24. The capsule, carrying approximately 250 grams of material from the carbon-rich asteroid Bennu, touched down at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range.
Bennu is of great interest to scientists, as it is believed to hold some of the oldest rocks in our solar system, offering crucial insights into the planetary makeup from 4.5 billion years ago. Asteroids like Bennu are viewed as natural “time capsules” due to their minimal changes over time; this enables researchers to study the early solar system’s chemical composition and potentially uncover life-associated organic molecules. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission commenced in September 2016, taking off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. After a year-long flyby of Earth, the spacecraft reached Bennu in December 2018. On October 20, 2020, it successfully collected samples from Bennu and commenced its journey back to Earth on May 10, 2021, covering a total distance of 3.9 billion miles.
Notably, this mission boasts the largest sample size of any asteroid retrieval attempt, estimated at approximately half a pound of rocky material from Bennu’s surface. With the samples now in NASA’s hands, extensive analysis and cataloging will be conducted over the next two years, offering invaluable insights into the early solar system’s composition. Additionally, NASA plans to share some of these samples with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), building on international collaboration in space exploration.
While the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft’s successful mission is meaningful, NASA wastes no time embarking on a new venture. The spacecraft is en route to study another near-Earth asteroid named Apophis, approximately 1,200 feet in diameter, with a close approach to Earth expected in 2029. The mission, named OSIRIS-APEX (OSIRIS-APophis EXplorer), aims to analyze changes in Apophis and how its proximity to Earth influences its orbit, spin rate, and surface composition, enhancing our understanding of these celestial bodies and potentially mitigating future impact risks.
