The Osiris-Rex space probe was launched into space in 2016. After a journey of a total of 6.2 billion kilometers, it has now returned to Earth with a precious cargo: The first test sample from an asteroid in space that NASA has ever managed to collect.
It is about the asteroid Bennu, which is estimated to be up to 500 meters in diameter and which orbits the sun approximately 81 million kilometers from Earth.
The probe landed on Sunday afternoon in a military area in the US state of Utah.
– It is a very exciting step. It’s not very often that you get to bring home material from an asteroid and then be able to analyze it with all the measuring instruments we have on earth, says Niklas Edberg, researcher at the Institute for Space Physics in Uppsala.
“A small piece of the puzzle”
The purpose of the mission is to get more clues about how our solar system originated 4.5 billion years ago. Asteroids are seen as “building blocks from the formation of the solar system”, according to Niklas Edberg.
– On Earth, we have a lot of erosion due to weather and wind and all that. But up in space, if a rock is lying there, then it is basically unchanged. When you study this asteroid, you get an insight into how everything looked when the solar system was formed, he says.
The analyzes of the space material can, among other things, provide answers to what substances Bennu consists of, how it is structured and at what temperature it was formed. With the help of that information, one can then gain a greater understanding of how the entire solar system was created.
– It is a small puzzle piece in a big sea of many puzzle pieces, says Niklas Edberg.
May collide with the earth
Bennu, which was only discovered in 1999, can thus provide important knowledge about space – but it also risks hindering it. The asteroid is expected to come dangerously close to Earth at the end of the 21st century. However, the risk of an impact is only 1 in 2,700, according to Nasa. The most likely date for a collision with our planet is September 24, 2182.
– If it does hit, then it’s a big lump, one might say. It wouldn’t be good, but the risk is very small, says Niklas Edberg.