“And in sharing this 4.5 billion-year-old sample with the public, we hope to inspire the Artemis generation and future generations to ask even bigger questions and make greater scientific discoveries.” “The knowledge we gain from the study of the asteroid Bennu sample will influence our scientific understanding of the solar system for generations to come,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. Researchers speculate that similar water-containing asteroids bombarded Earth billions of years ago, providing the water that eventually formed the planet’s first oceans. These early samples, which are smaller than a grain of rice, also contain water-rich minerals. NASA scientists have already found evidence of essential elements like carbon in the tiny rocks exposed outside the main sample container, which holds a trove of larger fragments. “Having now returned to Earth without being exposed to our water-rich atmosphere or the life that fills every corner of our planet, the samples of Bennu hold the promise to tell us about the water and organics before life came to form our unique planet,” said Tim McCoy, the museum’s curator of meteorites who has worked on the OSIRIS-REx mission for nearly two decades as part of an international team of scientists. The capsule entered Earth’s atmosphere off the coast of California, and when it landed on the desert floor in Utah, scientists promptly collected it to prevent contamination as much as possible. As it soared by Earth this past September, OSIRIS-REx dropped the capsule containing the Bennu samples. In 2021, the spacecraft then began its long journey to another asteroid, but not before it passed Earth to drop off its sample cannister. ![]() OSIRIS-REx collected rock and dust specimens from Bennu’s rugged exterior with a new type of sampling device that used compressed gas to loosen particles on the asteroid’s surface. Early telescope observations of Bennu suggested that, unlike most asteroids, it is carbon-rich and likely contains organic molecules similar to those that sparked life on an embryonic Earth. Bennu’s rocks are thought to date to the formation of the solar system more than 4.5 billion years ago. The dark rocks and dust from Bennu were collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security-Regolith Explorer) spacecraft in 2020, following two years spent mapping the asteroid’s rocky exterior.īennu was an intriguing target for the OSIRIS-REx mission due in part to its proximity to Earth’s orbit and its chemical composition. ![]() ![]() “With the help of our partners at NASA, we are proud to put one of these momentous samples on display to the public for the first time.”īennu is slightly wider than the Empire State Building is tall, shaped like a spinning top and it orbits the sun at distance between the orbits of Earth and Mars. “The OSIRIS-REx mission is an incredible scientific achievement that promises to shed light on what makes our planet unique,” said Kirk Johnson, the Sant Director of the National Museum of Natural History. Samples from Bennu may provide insights into how water and organic molecules first reached Earth, a core research focus of the OSIRIS-REx mission and of the museum’s new Our Unique Planet initiative. space mission to sample the surface of a planetary body since Apollo 17 in 1972. The rocky fragment was collected from the asteroid by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, the first U.S. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History will unveil the first public display of a sample of Bennu-a carbon-rich, near-Earth asteroid-to museumgoers Friday, Nov. ![]()
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