NASA launches satellite to study asteroid that could destroy Earth

The Orisis-Rex probe will collect samples from the asteroid Bennu and bring them back to Earth to study this meteorite that threatens to destroy Earth.

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has just launched a probe named Osiris-Rex into space to carry out a 7-year mission, collecting rock samples on the asteroid Bennu to learn more about this meteorite that threatens to destroy the Earth, BBCtoday news

The Osiris-Rex probe was launched on an Atlas rocket in Florida, USA on September 8 (local time). It will carry out a mission for 7 years before returning to Earth with the collected sample. The sample will be placed in a jar and dropped in the Utah desert on September 24, 2023.

Asteroid Bennu is 500 meters in diameter, taller than the Empire State Building in the US, and is believed to have the potential to collide with Earth with serious consequences. American scientists hope Osiris-Rex will collect a few hundred grams of material from this asteroid, to learn more about the structure of the asteroid and how it traveled through the Solar System.

Engineers have developed a sample-collecting device mounted on a robotic arm that extends from Osiris-Rex to touch the surface of Bennu. When it makes contact with the asteroid’s surface, the device fires a jet of high-pressure gas, which blasts out fragments. These fragments are then collected in a container by Osiris-Rex and brought back to Earth.

The Orisis-Rex probe will collect samples on the asteroid Bennu. Photo: NASA.

Bennu is a so-called “B-type” asteroid. Telescopic observations show that it contains a lot of carbon compounds. “This pristine material could contain organic molecules that are precursors to life on Earth or anywhere else in the solar system,” Christina Richey, Osiris-Rex project scientist, explained.

Osiris-Rex will spend at least two and a half years on Bennu. One of its tasks will be to accurately calculate the “Yarkovsky effect,” a phenomenon in which asteroids change their orbits as they pass through the solar system due to the sun heating their surfaces. Over centuries, these small changes add up and could increase the risk of an asteroid colliding with Earth.

Asteroid Bennu has a diameter larger than the height of the Empire State Building. Graphics: BBC-1

"This energy, when released back into space, acts as a propulsion source, causing the asteroid to change its course. If we want to predict the future of objects like Bennu, we have to explain this phenomenon," said Dante Lauretta, the project's lead researcher from the University of Arizona, USA.

According to VNE