NASA’s first asteroid sample has landed that may give clues about Earth's enemies in outer space
ALSO READ: Cosmic curio: A little bit of Bennu According to NASA, the debris of the asteroid should "help us better understand the types of asteroids that could threaten Earth." It ended its 3.86-billion-mile (6.21-billion-kilometer) journey after touching down in the desert in the western state of Utah on Sunday. Osiris-Rex released its capsule early Sunday from an altitude of more than 67,000 miles. Also read: NASA's craft carrying largest samples of asteroid Bennu lands on Earth The fiery passage through the atmosphere came only in the last 13 minutes, as the capsule hurtled downward at a speed of more than 27,000 miles per hour, with temperatures of up to 5,000 Fahrenheit (2,760 Celsius).
Its rapid descent was supposed to be slowed by two successive parachutes as it made its way to the 37-mile by nine-mile landing zone. The main chute, however, deployed "much higher than was originally anticipated," at about 20,000 feet (6,100 meters) rather than 5,000 feet, NASA said. A news conference is scheduled for October 11 in which the bulk of the sample will be revealed to the public.
The analysis of the asteroid, scientists believe, will help researchers better understand the formation of the solar system and how Earth became habitable. Most of the sample will be conserved for study by future generations. Roughly one-fourth will be immediately used in experiments, and a small amount will be sent to mission partners Japan and Canada.
Asteroids are composed of the original materials of the solar system, dating back some 4.5 billion years, and have remained relatively intact. They "can give us clues about how the solar system formed and evolved," said Osiris-Rex program executive Melissa Morris. Scientists believe Bennu, about
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