A NASA capsule, carrying the biggest sample ever collected from an asteroid, has come back to Earth. This capsule landed in the Utah desert at 3:52 PM and had about 250 grams of rocks and dust from the Bennu asteroid. NASA’s Osiris-Rex mission collected this sample.

Scientists believe that this asteroid, which is rich in carbon and close to Earth, is like a time capsule that holds information from the very early days of our solar system.

This sample is expected to give us important hints that could help us learn where the organic materials and water, which might have played a role in the creation of life on Earth, came from.

Since the sample was collected straight from the asteroid, there’s almost no chance of contamination.

As it descended, it got extremely hot, even reaching temperatures as high as 2,800 degrees Celsius when it entered the Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Near the very end of its descent, parachutes were used to safely bring the sample down to the ground in the Utah desert.

Now, it’s back in NASA “clean room” for testing.

Brian May, the musician from the band Queen who helped with the mission by figuring out where Osiris-Rex could grab a sample from the asteroid, commented on the landing. He said, “When this box filled with material from Bennu’s surface is opened, it can reveal countless secrets about how the universe, our planet, and life itself began”.

“What an incredibly exciting day.”

This is NASA’s initial attempt to gather a sample from an asteroid, and it’s the first one worldwide since 2020.

A part of the sample, about a quarter of it, will be shared with a large group of over 200 individuals from 38 different institutions around the world. Among them are scientists from the University of Manchester and the Natural History Museum.

Asteroid Bennu is a really old chunk from the early days of our solar system, about 4.5 billion years old. It’s called a “near-Earth object” because it comes relatively close to our planet every six years, but the chances of it actually hitting Earth are very low.

NASA Osiris-Rex Mission

In 2021, the Osiris-Rex mission team of scientists mentioned that there’s a slight possibility that Bennu could move into Earth’s path and possibly collide with our planet by September 2182. However, the odds of this happening are extremely small, like one in 2,700 (0.037%).

Ashley King from the Natural History Museum in the UK explained that Osiris-Rex mission studied Bennu for more than two years and found signs of organic materials and minerals changed by water. These things are super important for understanding how planets like Earth formed. They’re excited to study the samples returned from Bennu, which they think might be similar to the recent Winchcombe meteorite but not affected by Earth’s environment.

Dr. Sarah Crowther from the University of Manchester mentioned that it’s a big deal to be part of the Osiris-Rex sample analysis team, working with top scientists from around the world. They’re looking forward to getting the samples in the coming weeks and months and figuring out the secrets that Bennu holds.

Crowther explained that their research often focuses on meteorites, which can tell us a lot about the history of the solar system. But sometimes, meteorites can change because of Earth’s environment, which can erase important information about them. So, missions like Osiris-Rex are super important because the samples they bring back are untouched, and we know exactly which asteroid they came from, ensuring that we preserve crucial information.

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