NASA’s Osiris-Rex probe is expected to drop a sample of the asteroid Bennu over the Utah desert on Sunday (see video above). According to NASA estimates, the capsule contains about 250 grams of debris collected from the celestial body about three years ago. “A piece of solar system history,” emphasizes NASA scientist Nicola Fox.
The capsule is to be dropped about 62,000 miles above Earth, land using parachutes around 4:55 PM CEST and later taken to NASA laboratories in the US state of Texas for examination.
Dropping a capsule from a probe is a bit like playing darts, but on a basketball court, says NASA manager Rich Burns. “It’s like throwing a dart across a basketball court and hitting the bullseye on the other side,” Burns says.
If all works out, this would be the first asteroid sample successfully brought back to Earth in NASA history – and likely the largest sample ever taken.
A new mission is already underway
Meanwhile, “Osiris-Rex” is said to be on its way to the next asteroid, Apophis. The mission had already been extended by at least nine years. “Osiris Rex” (the abbreviation stands for: Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) was launched from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in September 2016 and arrived at Bennu about two years later.
In October 2020, the probe took a sample of the asteroid during a complicated maneuver lasting several hours: the first American rocket in space history.
Source: Krone
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