NASA grabbed a whopping 120 grams of rubble from asteroid Bennu, and it may contain the seeds of life

NASA scientists have finally tallied how much material a spacecraftsnatched from a distant "potentially hazardous" asteroid, and it turns out they've got more than double what they expected.

The sample — roughly 4.3 ounces (122 grams) of rocky space rubble that the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected from the asteroid Bennu — could contain some of the earliest precursors for life and is the first space rock ever retrieved by a NASA mission.

After landing in the Utah desert on Sept. 24, 2023, the OSIRIS-REx capsule was taken to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, where scientists began working to disassemble it — which proved trickier than many anticipated. Two of the capsule's 35 fasteners got stuck, forcing  NASA researchers to initially only collect about 2.48 ounces (70.3 grams) of sample resting on the lid of the canister.

Related: Asteroid Bennu may be 'a fragment of an ancient ocean world', 1st sample analysis suggests

Then, after specially designing and testing bespoke tools for the task, scientists finally opened the lid's last two clasps. After fully disassembling it, they retrieved 1.81 ounces (51.2 grams) more of the asteroid from inside.

The NASA mission launched in September 2016 and traveled 200 million miles (320 million kilometers) to reach Bennu before returning to Earth with the sample in May 2021. OSIRIS-REx mission scientists spent nearly two years searching for a landing site on Bennu's craggy surface before the spacecraft touched down to collect the sample. Upon making contact with the asteroid, OSIRIS-REx fired a burst of nitrogen from its Touch-and-Go Sample-Acquisition Mechanism to stick the landing and prevent the craft from sinking through the asteroid, as well as to capture the sample.

RELATED STORIES

—'What is that material?': Potentially hazardous asteroid Bennu stumps scientists with its odd makeup

—NASA is locked out of its OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample because of 2 faulty fasteners

—Is NASA's OSIRIS REx asteroid sample the most expensive material on Earth?

The capsule's long-awaited contents include roughly 4.5 billion-year-old rocks from the earliest years of the solar system. They also contain some of the primordial elements believed to have sparked life on Earth.

Some of these building blocks — including uracil, one of the nucleobases for RNA — were also recently found on the asteroid Ryugu by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hayabusa2 spacecraft, which returned to Earth with its rock sample in 2020. OSIRIS-REx mission scientists are hoping to find other such biological precursors inside the Bennu sample. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Everton vs Newcastle: TV channel, team news, lineups & prediction

Image
Everton welcome Newcastle United to Goodison Park in the Premier League on Thursday evening. Both clubs are valiantly battling through desperately difficult surrounding circumstances. While Everton's modern iteration of the 'Dogs of War' rage against their ten-point deduction, putting a dent in the deficit by defeating Nottingham Forest on Saturday, a rapidly dwindling Newcastle squad continues to collect results, thrashing Manchester United in a laughably one-sided 1-0 victory while losing another player to injury. Here's everything you need to know about the meeting between two spirited outfits. What time does Everton vs Newcastle kick-off? Location : Liverpool, England Stadium : Goodison Park Date : Thursday 7 December Kick-off Time : 19:30 GMT / 14:30 ET / 11:30 PT Referee : Tim Robinson VAR : David Coote Everton vs Newcastle H2H Record (Last Five Games) Everton : 1 win Newcastle : 4 wins Draws: 0 Last meeting: Everton 1-4 Newcastle (Premier League) - 27 April 2023...
Read more

Watch: Life Inside the Largest Aircraft Carrier in the World, Costing $13 Billion, in the Middle of the Ocean

Image
Welcome back to the FLUCTUS channel for a feature of the Gerald R Ford Class, the world’s biggest aircraft carrier at sea. With a full load displacement of 100,000t and the 78m-wide flight deck, this amazing warship has the capacity to carry more than 75 aircraft and accommodate 4,539 personnel, including the ship’s company, air wing and other support staff. A carrier strike group is huge, consisting of roughly 7500 personnel. 1 Aircraft Carrier, 2 Guided Missile Cruisers, 2 Anti-Aircraft Warships, and 1-2 Anti-Submarine Destroyers or Frigates. 65 – 70 aircraft. Now multiply that by 11 for the US Navy alone. Maybe one day we’ll be able to spend all these billions of dollars toward something which isn’t for national defense, until then, I’m glad we’re able to do so. I was on the Oriskany and Ticonderoga between 66 and 69. Both ships had one enlisted mess. I remember during non flight days, it was get in line all day long. 2000 or so crew members waiting to get fed in a 3...
Read more

Abandoned Cat Is Adopted And He Can’t Stop Kissing His New Owner

Image
I am always saddened when we get a call at the shelter about an abandoned animal, but I’m also glad that I can help. In this story, a rescue center worker thanked the people who called them and did their best to rescue this cat.  Valentino was left on the street but luckily, a kind shelter worker found and rescued him.  This shabby orange cat was left on the street, presumably after his owners moved away. The shelter workers first thought he was a female cat because he was extremely malnourished and also neutered. The shelter worker that saved him says: “He just allowed to be picked up and he wasn’t moving. So it’s worse than I thought!” When they got to the veterinary clinic, the cat had a temperature, and as they examined him it was visible how skinny he was. His fur was shabby and he had patches of skin showing.  The vet examined him and his big forehead abscess.  He was in pretty ...
Read more