The NASA probe ‘Osiris-Rex’ was on its way for seven years and dropped soil samples from an asteroid on Earth on Sunday.
The capsule was dropped from space at an altitude of over 100,000 kilometers; according to the American space agency NASA, it landed just before 9 a.m. (local time, 5 p.m. CEST) at a military site in the desert in the U.S. state of Utah. . The capsule landed a little earlier than NASA expected.
The recovery team is currently investigating where exactly the capsule landed and will secure it.
Sonde left in September 2016
The Osiris-Rex probe left for the asteroid Bennu in September 2016 and, after a four-year journey, landed on the celestial body for a few seconds in October 2020 to collect rock and dust samples. Bennu is located about 330 million kilometers from Earth and has a diameter of 500 meters.
The roughly 250 grams of material collected will help NASA “better understand the types of asteroids that could threaten Earth,” said Bill Nelson, head of the space agency. They could also provide information about the formation of the solar system. After landing, the capsule will be taken to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Only 25 percent of the samples are analyzed immediately, with the rest saved for better-equipped researchers in the future.
Asteroids are made from the primordial material from which the solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago. Scientists believe the asteroid Bennu is rich in carbon and contains water molecules trapped in minerals.
Source: Krone
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
