A view of the outside of the OSIRIS-REx sample collector. Sample material from asteroid Bennu can be seen on the middle right. Scientists have found evidence of both carbon and water in initial analysis of this material. The bulk of the sample is located inside.
A mission launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has returned to Earth with the largest asteroid sample ever collected, helping researchers study the beginnings of life itself, and a Calgary-based professor is part of the research team.
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft spent seven years in space visiting a near-Earth asteroid and collecting various samples."It carries clues to how our solar system formed, how the planets evolved, and perhaps will help us understand what happened on the early Earth, how it formed in the late stages."in this mission since 2009, working with a team of about 100 scientists — five of which are Canadian — studying the composition, age, strength and thermal properties of the sample.
Bennu is special — this specimen is a dark asteroid, a term for asteroids that can help scientists study the formation of the solar system. He says the rocks that make up this specimen are "thought to be a bit different than any others." "When a meteorite falls on Earth, we don't know where it came from. It's just a rock. But in this case, we'll be able to relate some things we see in the rock to the asteroid that they came from."
NASA's first ever sample from an asteroid, Nelson says the OSIRIS-REx mission was "perfect" and that what was discovered is exactly what researchers hoped to find, as "it's the biggest carbon rich asteroid sample ever returned to earth." And this remains true for Bennu, too — the asteroid could impact the earth in roughly 150 years, says Hildebrand.
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