They may also uncover potentially useful natural resources such as organic molecules and precious metals. Studying the sample in terrestrial labs, scientists hope to uncover clues about the birth of the planets and the origins of Earth's water and life. It will be the largest planetary sample retrieved since the Apollo era, when astronauts brought rocks back from the moon. In a kiss-like maneuver, the spacecraft's robotic arm will collect some material from Bennu's surface, then sling the sample back toward Earth. OSIRIS-REx will spend the next 18 months there, surveying the landscape and probing Bennu's chemical makeup before finally selecting what piece of the asteroid it wants to bring back home. OSIRIS-REx was finally at the doorstep of its new home.īennu is a carbonaceous asteroid - a primitive, carbon-rich piece of debris left over from the process that formed the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. Soon an image of the asteroid appeared on the mission control screens: a diamond-shaped body with a rough, speckled exterior. OSIRIS-REx was within 12 miles of Bennu's surface - about the distance between the White House and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, which manages the spacecraft. Then Cerna grinned and spread his arms out wide. "Standby for Bennu arrival," Cerna announced. Please do not discuss the concept of the autotldr bot here.Sitting at mission control at the Denver offices of Lockheed Martin, which operates the spacecraft for NASA, engineer Javi Cerna waited for the signal indicating OSIRIS-REx had begun the burn needed to bring it close to its target. NOTICE: This thread is for discussing the submission topic. Post found in /r/space, /r/space, /r/Futurology and /r/technology. Summary Source | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: asteroid #1 Bennu #2 scientist #3 impact #4 rock #5 But to accurately identify which asteroids might actually pose a risk, scientists need to be able to calculate as accurately as possible where a space rock's trajectory will take it. One aspect of that work is finding as many near-Earth asteroids as possible - scientists have cataloged more than 26,000 to date, according to NASA. In September of that year, Bennu will swing past Earth - not close enough that there's any risk of an impact, but certainly close enough that Earth's gravity could nudge the asteroid a bit on its path. One factor that scientists were particularly concerned about is called the Yarkovsky effect, which is triggered by the constant temperature fluctuations that occur as regions of the asteroid pass in and out of daylight, gently pushing the asteroid. In addition to factors like these that affect all solar system objects, the team was also able to check the impact of two unusual characteristics of Bennu specifically: the plumes of dust that regularly shoot off the asteroid and the rock's interaction with the spacecraft itself. If the possibility of an asteroid called Bennu slamming into Earth a lifetime from now was keeping you up at night, NASA scientists think you can rest a little easier.Īs a result, scientists behind new research now say they're confident that the asteroid's total impact probability through 2300 is just 1 in 1,750. This is the best tl dr I could make, original reduced by 81%.
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