'OSIRIS-REx' Capsule Launched in 2016
Collected 250g of Soil and Gravel... Largest Asteroid Sample
Expected Analysis on Clues to Earth's Life Origin and Impact Possibility
The capsule of NASA's asteroid explorer 'OSIRIS-REx,' which collected soil and gravel samples from the asteroid 'Bennu,' returned to Earth on the morning of the 24th (local time), seven years after its launch.
According to AP News and CNN, the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample capsule landed at the Department of Defense Utah Test and Training Range in the Utah desert on that day. The capsule's return marks seven years since OSIRIS-REx was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Center in September 2016.
The OSIRIS-REx project is a $1 billion (approximately 1.33 trillion KRW) investment. The OSIRIS-REx sample capsule orbited Bennu for about two years starting in 2018, after which the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft retrieved the capsule and began its return to Earth in May 2021. CNN reported that the spacecraft flew a total of 3.86 billion miles traveling to Bennu and back.
On that day, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, flying over Earth, released the capsule toward Earth from 63,000 miles away, and the capsule landed at the scheduled destination four hours later. The capsule landed three minutes earlier than planned. NASA explained that the capsule's parachute deployed at 20,000 feet?four times higher than expected?leading to an 'early touchdown.'
The sample capsule will be sent to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, for analysis. NASA plans to send some of the samples to partner space agencies involved in the OSIRIS-REx project, including those in Canada and Japan. More than 75% of the samples will be preserved at JSC for further research by scientists worldwide, including future generations.
The asteroid Bennu, from which the OSIRIS-REx sample capsule was collected, orbits the Sun at a distance of 130 million kilometers from Earth. The capsule is estimated to contain about 250 grams of Bennu's soil and gravel?the largest amount ever collected from an asteroid. CNN explained that the 4.5-billion-year-old samples are preserved without contamination. Scientists plan to analyze the rocks and soil over the next two years in a dedicated clean room inside JSC.
Scientists expect that analyzing asteroid samples containing materials from the early solar system will provide clues about the role carbon-rich asteroids like Bennu played in the emergence of life on Earth. It is hypothesized that rocky asteroids like Bennu, which remained after the formation of planets in the early solar system, collided with early Earth and delivered organic materials containing carbon, which could be components of life.
Rory Glaze, NASA's Planetary Science Director, said, "Scientists believe that asteroid Bennu represents the oldest materials in the solar system, formed from a dying large star and supernova explosions." He added, "For this reason, NASA invests in missions like this to enhance our understanding of how our solar system formed and evolved."
Additionally, since Bennu is expected to come close enough to Earth to potentially collide around 2182, scientists see the materials obtained this time as greatly helpful in understanding the asteroid's movement. CNN reported, "It is important to better understand the number of near-Earth asteroids that could collide with Earth," and "predicting which asteroids will come closest to Earth and when they will approach is crucial."
Meanwhile, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which released the Bennu sample capsule to Earth, continued its flight to conduct exploration activities of another potentially threatening near-Earth asteroid, 'Apophis,' in 2029.
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