NASA’s Osiris-Rex Spacecraft

Why in NEWS ?

• NASA spacecraft grabs sample of rocks from asteroid Bennu.

About

• A NASA spacecraft touched down on the rugged surface of the Bennu asteroid on 20 th October 2020, grabbing a sample of rocks dating back to the birth of our solar system to bring home.
• The minivan-sized OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, extended its 11- foot robotic arm toward a flat patch of gravel near Bennus north pole and plucked the sample of rocks, the space agency's first handful of pristine asteroid rocks.
• The probe will send back images of the sample collection on 21 st October 2020 and throughout the week so scientists can examine how much material was retrieved and determine whether the probe will need to make another collection attempt.
• If a successful collection is confirmed, the spacecraft will journey back toward Earth, arriving in 2023.
• Japan is the only other country to have already accomplished this.

Asteroid Bennu

• It is located over 100 million miles from Earth and whose acorn-shaped body formed in the early days of our solar system.
• Rather than the sandy beach-like surface the mission team was expecting at first, it turns out that Bennu is covered in building-size boulders.
• It's also actively ejecting little rocks, pebbles and particles into space -- as first witnessed by the spacecraft's cameras soon after arriving at the asteroid in December 2018.
• According to scientist, it could hold clues to the origins of life on Earth.
• Asteroids are among the leftover debris from the solar systems formation some 4.5 billion years ago. Scientists believe asteroids and comets crashing into early Earth may have delivered organic compounds and water that seeded the planet for life. Atomic-level analysis of samples from Bennu could provide key evidence to support that hypothesis.
• It's also the smallest body to be orbited by a NASA spacecraft. And Bennu has now been mapped in greater detail than our own moon or any other celestial body in our solar system

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft

• The OSIRIS-REx mission stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explore.
• The spacecraft launched in 2016 from Kennedy Space Center for the journey to Bennu.
• It has been in orbit around the asteroid for nearly two years preparing for the touch and go maneuver.
• The robotic arm's collection device, shaped like an oversized shower head, is designed to release a pressurized gas to kick up debris.
• The spacecraft orbited the asteroid for nearly two years, observing it in detail. This resulted in the closest orbit for a spacecraft around an object, setting a Guinness World Record.