NASA is nearly prepared to receive the first asteroid sample from its new retrieval capsule this month.
NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) craft arrived at the asteroid known as Bennu in October 2020. Bennu, discovered in 1999, is a small, near-earth asteroid that approaches close to our planet once every six years.
Scientists want to study this asteroid for a number of reasons, including its proximity to Earth, its well-preserved nature, and the possibility of gaining insight into the origins of life.
The OSIRIS-REx craft collected 8.8 ounces of material from the asteroid’s surface. These samples were then placed inside a Sample Return Capsule before leaving the asteroid in May 2021 to deliver the samples to Earth.
The return capsule is expected to arrive on September 24. Ahead of its anticipated arrival, scientists have been conducting rehearsals of the capsule’s safe return to Earth’s surface.
NASA announced on August 30 that personnel were nearing the end of these rehearsals.
“A mockup of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx … sample capsule was dropped Wednesday from an aircraft and landed at the drop zone at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range in the desert outside Salt Lake City,” the agency announced.
“We are now mere weeks away from receiving a piece of solar system history on Earth, and this successful drop test ensures we’re ready,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington in a press release.
“Pristine material from asteroid Bennu will help shed light on the formation of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago, and perhaps even on how life on Earth began,” Fox added.
“We are now in the final leg of this seven-year journey, and it feels very much like the last few miles of a marathon, with a confluence of emotions like pride and joy coexisting with a determined focus to complete the race well,” said Rich Burns, project manager for OSIRIS-REx at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in the press release.
The capsule bearing these materials is expected to enter Earth’s atmosphere at about 27,650 mph at 10:42 a.m. EDT. Upon successfully making it to the ground, the samples will be taken to a clean room for processing before being taken to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
From there, the samples will be distributed for study and analysis.
After completing its Bennu mission, the OSIRIS-REx will journey to the asteroid Apophis. The craft is expected to arrive at the asteroid in 2029.
