![]() This correlation suggests that at least some carbonaceous asteroids were altered by percolating water in the early Solar System.” “Bennu shares this compositional trait with aqueously altered meteorites. “Boulders strewn about near the Nightingale site have bright carbonate veins,” Hamilton said. Its rubble-pile nature and heavily cratered surface indicates that it has had a rough-and-tumble life since being liberated from its much larger parent asteroid millions or even billions of years ago. “We will compare the sample’s relative abundances of organics, carbonates, silicates and other minerals to those in meteorites to help determine the scenarios that best explain Bennu’s surface composition.”Īsteroid Bennu is a dark, rubble pile held together by gravity and thought to be the collisional remnant of a much larger main-belt object. Vicky Hamilton, a coauthor on all three papers. “Our recent studies show that organics and minerals associated with the presence of water are scattered broadly around Bennu’s surface, so any sample returned to Earth should contain these compounds and minerals,” said SwRI’s Dr. Scientists also studied the distribution of these materials, globally and at the sample sites The mission discovered carbon-bearing compounds on Bennu’s surface, a first for a near-Earth asteroid, as well as minerals containing or formed by water. Since the spacecraft arrived at Bennu in 2018, scientists have been characterizing the asteroid’s composition and comparing it to other asteroids and meteorites. ![]() If this historic attempt is unsuccessful, the spacecraft will try again at a secondary site. The first attempt will be made at Nightingale, a rocky area 66 feet in diameter in Bennu’s northern hemisphere. SwRI scientists played a role in the selection of the sample sites. On October 20, the spacecraft will descend to the asteroid’s boulder-strewn surface, touch the ground with its robotic arm for a few seconds and collect a sample of rocks and dust – marking the first time NASA has grabbed pieces of an asteroid for return to Earth. 8 discuss the color, reflectivity, age, composition, origin and distribution of materials that make up the asteroid’s rough surface. space.SAN ANTONIO - As the days count down to NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft’s Touch-And-Go asteroid sample collection attempt, Southwest Research Institute scientists have helped determine what the spacecraft can expect to return from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu’s surface. NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft captured this series of images of asteroid Bennu on April 14, 2020, during the first rehearsal of the mission's sample collection event. (Image credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona)In its first practice run, OSIRIS-REx went through two of the four maneuvers it would perform during a real asteroid-sampling attempt: the orbit departure burn and the "checkpoint" burn. Video: OSIRIS-REx gets really close to asteroid Bennu in rehearsalRelated: How NASA's asteroid sample return mission will work (infographic)This artist's concept shows the trajectory and configuration of NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft during the checkpoint rehearsal on April 14, 2020. On Tuesday (April 14), during what NASA calls a "checkpoint rehearsal," OSIRIS-REx got closer to Bennu's surface than ever before while practicing the sample collection process. NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which is getting ready to scoop a sample of asteroid Bennu, has successfully completed a partial dress rehearsal for its historic trip to the asteroid's surface. NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft aces asteroid-sampling dress rehearsal ![]() Studying the asteroid in space up close and when the asteroid sample is dropped on Earth in 2023 will help scientists learn how to deflect a potentially hazardous asteroid like it. 11, 2020 photo shows the sampling arm of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft during a rehearsal for an approach to the "Nightingale" sample site on the surface of the asteroid Bennu. Kerri Donaldson Hanna said.ĭonaldson Hanna is one of two University of Central Florida faculty serving on the NASA mission, including UCF planetary scientist Humberto Campins. “This mission has almost been like clockwork,” spacecraft science team member and UCF Associate Prof. asteroid sample attempt but it will be a few days before we know how much it picked up. – A NASA spacecraft briefly smooched the surface of a potentially hazardous asteroid more than 200 million miles away on Tuesday successfully conducting the first U.S. NASA spacecraft successfully ‘kisses’ asteroid to bring back sample to Earth
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