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osiris-rex-liftoff

The asteroid Bennu is about to take a company — NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida equally planned yesterday evening. Information technology is now en route to Bennu where information technology will spend more a year mapping the surface of the object from orbit. So the real fun begins: The ultimate goal of OSIRIS-Rex is to brand contact with the asteroid and obtain a sample that will eventually exist returned to Earth.

Studying asteroids can help scientists understand the nature of the early on solar arrangement. Afterwards all, the composition of asteroids is probably similar to that of Earth when it formed. In that location are, of form, enough of samples of asteroids on World — they literally autumn out of the sky every twenty-four hours. But these objects don't tell scientists everything they'd like to know about asteroids as they exist in infinite. After falling through the atmosphere, an asteroid has usually been super-heated and fractured by bear upon. Even smaller rocks that don't accept such tremendous impact power are contaminated past their trip through the atmosphere.

To get the all-time data on the composition of asteroids, you need a fresh sample straight from the source. That's where OSIRIS-Male monarch (which stands for Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer) comes in. The probe just left Earth aboard an Atlas 5 rocket, and has begun its two-year journey to Bennu. NASA says the launch went perfectly and the probe is working equally expected.

OSIRIS-REx_artist_rendetion

When information technology reaches the asteroid in August of 2018, OSIRIS-REx volition map the surface in farthermost detail for 505 days. The adjacent phase of the mission is where we actually have to hope that NASA'due south luck holds. OSIRIS-King will approach Benuu (which is about 500 meters beyond) and hover only five meters above the surface. A sampling arm will extend and make contact with the surface, scooping up equally least two ounces of fabric from Bennu. In that location's a v second timer that will trigger OSIRIS-REx to move back from the asteroid subsequently contact is made. Ideally, this will prevent a collision and proceed the thrusters off during the sample collection in order to lessen contagion.

If everything goes as planned, NASA hopes to have the sample from Bennu back on World in 2023. At that time, scientists will be able to look for organic molecules that could have been present on Earth likewise. Bennu's proximity to World makes this mission possible.

Incidentally, there's a small chance that Bennu could hit Earth in the mid-22nd century. Knowing a picayune more about it could be handy downward the road.