A long-awaited asteroid sample has finally arrived in the United States. After traveling millions of miles through space, the asteroid sample known as 101955 Bennu landed at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport last week.
The sample was collected by NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft, which launched in 2016 on a mission to collect samples from the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid. It has traveled 2.3 billion miles on its journey, and was successfully captured by the spacecraft’s robotic arm in October of 2020.
This marks the second time NASA has collected an asteroid sample, the first being the Hayabusa mission in 2010. The difference between the two missions is that this time, the samples were collected from a much more distant asteroid.
Now that the sample has landed safely in the US, it will begin a months-long process to analyze the material. This includes analyzing the chemical composition and physical properties of the material to better understand the history of the solar system.
The sample is the largest ever collected from an asteroid, weighing over 4 pounds. Scientists believe that the material collected could contain clues about the formation of the solar system and the origins of life on Earth.
Osiris-Rex will continue its mission, as the spacecraft is slated to collect another asteroid sample in 2021. In the meantime, scientists will work to analyze the Bennu sample and unlock the secrets of the solar system. It’s exciting news and a step forward in the exploration of our universe.