The pebbles and dust delivered Sunday represent the biggest haul from beyond the moon. Preserved building blocks from the dawn of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago, the samples will help scientists better understand how Earth and life formed.
NASA’s first asteroid samples fetched from deep space parachuted into the Utah desert Sunday to cap a seven-year journey.In a flyby of Earth, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft released the sample capsule from 63,000 miles out. The small capsule landed four hours later on a remote expanse of military land, as the mothership set off after another asteroid.“We have touchdown!” Mission Recovery Operations announced, immediately repeating the news since the landing occurred three minutes early.
Scientists estimate the capsule holds at least a cup of rubble from the carbon-rich asteroid known as Bennu, but won’t know for sure until the container is opened. Some spilled and floated away when the spacecraft scooped up too much and rocks jammed the container’s lid during collection three years ago.
Scientists estimate the capsule holds at least a cup of rubble from the carbon-rich asteroid known as Bennu, but won’t know for sure until the container is opened in a day or two. Some spilled and floated away when the spacecraft scooped up too much material, which jammed the container’s lid during collection three years ago.Japan, the only other country to bring back samples, gathered about a teaspoon during a pair of asteroid missions.
At a news conference several hours later, Lauretta said he broke into tears of joy upon hearing that the capsule's main parachute had opened. “Boy, did we stick that landing,” Lauretta said. “It didn’t move, it didn’t roll, it didn’t bounce. It just made a tiny little divot in the Utah soil.” Engineers estimate the canister holds 8.82 ounces of material from Bennu, plus or minus 3.53 ounces. Even at the low end, it will easily surpass the minimum requirement of the mission, Lauretta said.NASA plans a public show-and-tell in October.
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