By Gavin Serrano
What NASA scientist have longed for.
This is a long awaited sample from this asteroid that has finally landed, the team at NASA have waited 2 ½ years so far. In 2016 they launched OSIRIS-REx, began orbiting Bennu in 2018 then collected the sample in 2020 “Rather than coming in for a landing, the OSIRIS-REx mission will drop off the sample of rocks and soil and continue on its journey to study another asteroid,” according to CNN. A helicopter will pick up the sample and take it to a cleaning room then off to be studied by scientists. OSIRIS-REx is NASA’s first ever asteroid sample return mission; it has been on this mission for seven years. Since leaving the asteroid it has gone around the sun twice so it can be on the right track to rendezvous with earth.
What are they going to do with the rock?
As of now the rock is in the hands of Johnson Space Center, JSC has a long history of handling and studying these rocks. They even studied the lunar samples from some of the missions from the Apollo program. “NASA has worked on creating a special facility at Johnson for the Bennu sample for years,” said Kevin Righter, “OSIRIS-REx deputy curation lead,” according to CNN. The rocks and in a special room that will help from any potential cross contamination. The scientist will examine the soil and rocks for the next two years. They have been customizing special tools just for this job because of how small the soil and the rocks are.
What will the rocks tell us about our solar system?
The sample will reveal about the history of our solar system and the formation of it. This will help with the development of habitable planets just like Earth. “Scientists believe that asteroids such as Bennu crashed into Earth early during their formation, delivering elements like water,” according to CNN. The sample will be divided up to laboratories all around the globe. So far the capsule has landed and it has been taken by helicopter to a facility. They have already started studying the soil and rock in the special lab but most of it will remain sealed up for future testing when technology gets better. There is no news about the rock about what they have found.
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