Scientists believe the capsule holds at least a cup of rubble from the carbon-rich asteroid known as Bennu, but won’t know for sure until the container is opened.
Scientists estimate the capsule holds at least a cup of rubble from the carbon-rich asteroid known as Bennu, but won’t know for sure until the container is opened.Earth, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft
As the Sun rises recovery team members prepare to board helicopters before flying into the Utah desert to participate in the Osiris-Rex asteroid sample return and recovery mission at Dugway, Utah, on September 24, 2023. A seven-year space voyage comeScientists estimate the capsule holds at least a cup of rubble from the carbon-rich asteroid known as Bennu, but won’t know for sure until the container is opened.
Osiris-Rex, the mothership, rocketed away on the $1 billion mission in 2016. It reached Bennu two years later and, using a long stick vacuum, grabbed rubble from the small roundish space rock in 2020. By the time it returned, the spacecraft had logged 4 billion miles . Engineers estimate the canister holds 250 grams of material from Bennu, plus or minus 100 grams . Even at the low end, it will easily surpass the minimum requirement of the mission, Lauretta said.It will take a few weeks to get a precise measurement, said NASA’s lead curator Nicole Lunning.Currently orbiting the sun 50 million miles from Earth, Bennu is about one-third of a mile across, roughly the size of the Empire State Building but shaped like a spinning top.
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