Black-gray like pieces of coal, chunks and dust from the asteroid Bennu lie in a laboratory at the US space agency NASA. The probe had a good three weeks ago Osiris Rex dropped a container with the precious cargo as it flew past the earth. The capsule landed as planned in the desert of Utah and was recovered. It is the first asteroid sample that NASA was able to successfully bring to Earth – and the largest such sample ever taken.
According to Nasa, around 200 scientists used 60 different analysis methods to examine the approximately 250 grams of extraterrestrial material. X-ray diffraction analyses, electron micrographs, infrared measurements and computer tomography gave an idea of what was contained in the sample. NASA presented the first results on Wednesday: They discovered carbon compounds and water, the basic ingredients for the emergence of life. And that might provide answers to the really big questions: How did life come to earth? And: How can dangerously large asteroids be prevented from colliding with Earth?
“In the next few months and years we’ll be rewriting history a little bit.”
So far the mission is going well for NASA. There have been no mishaps since the launch of the launch vehicle in 2016. After the probe Osiris Rex After it entered an orbit around Bennu, it came within a few meters of the Brocken in October 2020. Using a kind of robotic arm, the spacecraft touched the surface of the asteroid for about five seconds, expelling pressurized nitrogen to stir up material that the probe then sucked up and brought back to Earth.
NASA boss Bill Nelson during the press conference on Wednesday.
(Photo: MARK FELIX/AFP)
This is not the first time that asteroid material has been brought to Earth by humans. 2005 was the Japanese probe Hayabusa landed on an asteroid. In 2010 it brought the first soil samples of such a celestial body to Earth, less than a gram. The follow-up mission brought them back in December 2020 Hayabusa 2 to the asteroid Ryugu 5.4 grams of “black sand-like particles” with, it was said, a good teaspoon full. Last February it was said in the science journal Science, Ryugu’s material contains “complex organic molecules” as well as amino acids. The researchers even discovered a building block of RNA, a sister molecule of the genetic material DNA, in the crumbs. This is a lot of evidence that life may not be as unique as many on Earth imagine.
NASA, meanwhile, managed to bring the weight of about a packet of butter to Earth – and thus more asteroid material than all previous probes. There have been other flights to asteroids, but no other probe has yet brought material back to Earth. NASA boss Bill Nelson spoke on Wednesday of a “picture-book mission”. The sample will help scientists worldwide investigate the origins of life and our planet. NASA manager Makenzie Lystrup promised: “In the next few months and years we will definitely rewrite history a little bit.” It remained unclear whether this meant that NASA would soon have something bigger to announce – although probably not alien footprints.
Osiris Rex was launched from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in September 2016 and arrived at Bennu around two years later. The deep black asteroid, named after an ancient Egyptian deity, has a diameter of around 550 meters and could come quite close to Earth in a good 150 years. Even if the risk of impact is very low, NASA Bennu is one of the most dangerous asteroids currently known.
It’s about six meters long and weighs 2,100 kilograms Osiris RexThe probe set off for the next asteroid, Apophis, immediately after dropping the sample capsule above Earth. According to calculations, the asteroid with a diameter of around 370 meters will fly past Earth at a distance of around 32,000 kilometers in 2029 and could therefore be studied up close for the first time. The NASA mission is also scheduled to take place this week psyche launch to the asteroid of the same name.