NASA Successfully Collects Sample from Asteroid with Osiris-Rex Mission

On Sunday, a NASA capsule successfully landed in the desert in Utah, marking the conclusion of a seven-year space journey. This historic event brought back the largest asteroid samples ever gathered, sparking excitement among scientists who anticipate gaining valuable insights into the formation of our solar system and the conditions that made Earth suitable for life. During the live video webcast of the landing, a commentator joyfully announced the touchdown of the Osiris-Rex sample return capsule, while engineers and team members at the mission control center nearby applauded.

It was a journey of 3.86 billion miles (6.21 billion kilometers) and marked the first US sample return mission of its kind, the US space agency said on X, formerly Twitter.

NASA chief Bill Nelson praised the mission, saying the asteroid dust “gives scientists an extraordinary glimpse into the beginning of our solar system.”

The Osiris-Rex probe’s final, fiery descent through Earth’s atmosphere was dangerous, but NASA managed to schedule a soft landing at 8:52 a.m. local time (1452 GMT) at the military’s Utah Test and Training Range.

Four years after its 2016 launch, the probe had landed on the Bennu asteroid and collected what NASA estimates to be about nine ounces (250 grams) of dust from its rocky surface.

NASA says that even this small amount should “help us better understand what types of asteroids could threaten Earth.”

The return of the sample “is truly historic,” NASA scientist Amy Simon told AFP. “This is the largest sample we’ve brought back since the Apollo moon rocks” were returned to Earth.

Osiris-Rex launched the capsule early Sunday from an altitude of more than 67,000 miles.

The fiery passage through the atmosphere didn’t happen until the final 13 minutes, when the capsule hurtled downward at more than 27,000 miles per hour with temperatures reaching up to 5,000 Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius).

Its rapid descent had to be slowed by two successive parachutes as it entered the 37-mile-by-nine-mile landing zone.

However, the main trough settled “much higher than originally expected” at about 20,000 feet (6,100 meters) instead of 5,000 feet, NASA said.

NASA images showed the tire-sized capsule on the ground in the desert wash as scientists approached the device and took readings.

Ultimately, they concluded that the capsule was not broken, meaning its all-important airtight seal remained intact, avoiding contamination of the sample with desert sand.

The team then lifted the capsule by helicopter into a nearby “clean room.”

At the same time, the space-faring probe fired its engines and changed course away from Earth, NASA said, “on its way” to a rendezvous with another asteroid, called Apophis.

Scientists predict that the asteroid will come within 20,000 miles of Earth in 2029.

– Japanese samples –

On Monday, the sample will head to the Johnson Space Center in Houston for further study, and NASA plans to announce the first results at a press conference on October 11.

Most of the sample is preserved for future generations to study. About a quarter is used immediately for trials, and a small amount is sent to shipping partners in Japan and Canada.

Japan had previously given NASA a few grains of the Ryugu asteroid when it brought 0.2 ounces of dust to Earth in 2020 during the Hayabusa-2 mission. Ten years ago, it had brought back a microscopic amount from another asteroid.

But Bennu’s sample is much larger, allowing for significantly more testing, Simon said.

– Earth’s origin story –

Asteroids are composed of the original materials of the Solar System, dating back about 4.5 billion years, and have survived relatively intact.

They “can give us clues about how the solar system formed and evolved,” said Melissa Morris, director of the Osiris-Rex program.

“It’s our own origin story.”

By hitting the Earth’s surface, “We believe that asteroids and comets delivered organic material, possibly water, that helped life flourish here on Earth,” Simon said.

Scientists believe Bennu, which is about 500 meters (1,640 feet) in diameter, is rich in carbon — the building blocks of life on Earth — and contains water molecules locked in minerals.

Bennu surprised scientists in 2020 when a probe dipped during its brief contact with the asteroid’s surface, revealing an unexpectedly low density, like a kiddie pool filled with plastic balls.

Understanding its composition may be useful — in the distant — future.

It has a small but non-zero chance (one in 2700) that Bennu will crash into Earth catastrophically, though not until 2182.

However, NASA successfully deflected an asteroid last year by crashing a probe into it in a test, and may have to repeat the exercise at some point – but with much higher stakes.