Scientists finally opened the rock sample from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx captured a treasure trove of material from the solar system’s earliest days.
This morning,
administrator Bill Nelson set up the reveal. “Seven years, almost 4 billion miles of a journey throughout the solar system to the asteroid Bennu and back began,” he said, recapping the mission for the audience. Three weeks ago, he continued, “the sample-return capsule landed in Utah, right on the money. It was a picture-perfect mission. It’s a feat of engineering and it’s
Ex principal investigator Dante Lauretta showed four more finely detailed images of the sample, all taken by an electron microscope, and spoke more about the significance of carbon. He described the material as clay minerals which have water locked inside their fibrous, serpentine crystal structures. “That is how we think water got to the Earth. The reason that Earth is a habitable world—that we have oceans and lakes and rain—is because these clay minerals landed on Earth 4 to 4.
has examined only a tiny part of the sample, and they have not yet fully opened the sample container. She said they will continue taking the collection head apart, dividing the sample into handling trays “that look like deep dish pizza dishes.” In six months, she said, the agency will release a sample catalog to give scientists a chance to propose studies and request samples.
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NASA revealing OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample today: Watch it liveMichael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, 'Out There,' was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of
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