NASA is expected to release the first photographs of the largest asteroid sample ever gathered in space on Wednesday, which scientists hope may disclose information about the early days of our solar system and possibly the origins of life itself. The OSIRIS-REx mission retrieved rock and dust from the asteroid Bennu in 2020, and a capsule carrying the valuable cargo returned to Earth a little more than two weeks ago, landing in the Utah desert. It is currently being meticulously examined in a dedicated clean room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
NASA researchers have been encouraged by the discovery of “bonus particles,” which are described as black dust and debris coating the sample collector
At 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time (1500 GMT), the space agency will hold a live webcast press conference to provide images and preliminary scientific findings. The OSIRIS-REx mission was not the first to rendezvous with an asteroid and return samples for research; Japan accomplished the feat twice, returning space pebbles in 2010 and 2020. However, the large amount of material — 250 grams (half a pound) — as opposed to the 5.4 grams retrieved by Japan’s Hayabusa2 is a significant difference. NASA chose Bennu because it is thought to be high in organic molecules. Similar asteroids, scientists believe, could have given organic building blocks to Earth along with water billions of years ago through collisions.
The fact that Bennu’s orbit intersected that of our planet made the roundtrip voyage easier than going to the Asteroid Belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter. So far, NASA researchers have been encouraged by the discovery of “bonus particles,” which are described as black dust and debris coating the sample collector. When the OSIRIS-REx probe fired nitrogen gas towards Bennu to collect its sample in October 2020, a flap supposed to close it became stuck open with a fragment of rock, enabling some of the finer material to flow out of the collector without completely escaping. “The very best ‘problem’ to have is that there is so much material, it’s taking longer than we expected to collect it,” deputy OSIRIS-REx curation lead Christopher Snead said in a statement.
“It’s really spectacular to have all that material there.” Bennu is likely to have formed from fragments of a bigger asteroid in the asteroid belt after a violent impact between one and two billion years ago. The spacecraft’s data revealed that the particles that make up its exterior were so loosely packed that if a person stepped upon the surface, they may sink in, much like stepping into a pit of plastic balls. A better grasp of Bennu’s makeup, in addition to scientific findings, could be valuable if mankind ever needs to direct it away. While it has little probability of reaching Earth before the mid-2100s, NASA thinks the chances increase to roughly 1 in 1750 between then and the year 2300.