NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission achieved a major milestone as its capsule, carrying the largest soil sample ever collected from an asteroid’s surface, successfully landed in the Utah desert. The capsule, shaped like a gumdrop, was released from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft after it passed within 108,000 kilometers (67,000 miles) of Earth.
This mission collected the sample three years ago from the carbon-rich asteroid known as Bennu, classified as a “near-Earth object” due to its proximity to our planet. Bennu is believed to hold critical clues about the origins and evolution of rocky planets like Earth, as it has maintained its chemistry and mineralogy virtually unchanged since its formation 4.5 billion years ago.
The capsule’s contents will be flown to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for further analysis. Scientists estimate it contains at least a cup of asteroid rubble, but the exact amount will only be determined once the container is opened. This mission follows Japan’s success in bringing back asteroid samples, but NASA’s collection from Bennu is significantly larger.
The importance of these asteroid samples is underscored by their potential to provide insights into the early solar system and the role celestial objects like asteroids played in seeding the Earth with the ingredients necessary for life.
The successful landing marks a critical step in the OSIRIS-REx mission, which began in 2016 and involved nearly two years of orbiting and sample collection on Bennu before the spacecraft began its journey back to Earth. The capsule’s descent through Earth’s atmosphere was a high-speed and high-temperature endeavor, but it was safely slowed down by parachutes for a gentle landing in the Utah desert.
A team of scientists and technicians is on standby to retrieve the capsule and confirm the integrity of the asteroid sample, ensuring it remains free from terrestrial contamination. This mission represents a significant scientific achievement and paves the way for deeper insights into the history and formation of our solar system.
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