NASA’s first asteroid samples land on Earth after seven-year journey

NASA’s first asteroid samples fetched from heavy abstraction parachuted into the Utah godforsaken connected Sunday to headdress a seven-year journey.

In a flyby of Earth, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft released the illustration capsule from 100,000km out. The tiny capsule landed 4 hours aboriginal connected a distant expanse of subject land, arsenic the mothership acceptable disconnected aft different asteroid.

“We person touchdown!” Mission Recovery Operations announced, instantly repeating the quality since the landing occurred 3 minutes early. Officials aboriginal said the orange-striped parachute opened 4 times higher than anticipated - astir 6100 meters - basing it connected the deceleration rate.

To everyone’s relief, the capsule was intact and not breached, keeping its 4.5 billion-year-old samples escaped of contamination. Within 2 hours of touchdown, the capsule was wrong a impermanent cleanable country astatine the Defense Department’s Utah Test and Training Range, hoisted determination by helicopter.

NASA technicians successful a cleanable country analyse the illustration instrumentality capsule from NASA's Osiris-Rex mission. Photo / AP

“It’s similar ‘Wow!’” said NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who was successful Utah grooming for her ain abstraction capsule mission. “This is conscionable amazing. It tin spell from the movies, but this is reality.”

Scientists estimation the capsule holds astatine slightest a cupful of rubble from the carbon-rich asteroid known arsenic Bennu, but won’t cognize for definite until the instrumentality is opened successful a time oregon two. Some spilled and floated distant erstwhile the spacecraft scooped up excessively overmuch material, which jammed the container’s lid during postulation 3 years ago.

Japan, the lone different state to bring backmost samples, gathered astir a spoon during a brace of asteroid missions.

The pebbles and particulate delivered Sunday correspond the biggest haul from beyond the moon. Preserved gathering blocks from the dawn of our star system, the samples volition assistance scientists amended recognize however Earth and beingness formed, providing “an bonzer glimpse” of 4.5 cardinal years ago, said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

Osiris-Rex, the mothership, rocketed distant connected the US$1 cardinal ngo successful 2016. It reached Bennu 2 years aboriginal and, utilizing a agelong instrumentality vacuum, grabbed rubble from the tiny roundish abstraction stone successful 2020. By the clip it returned, the spacecraft had logged 6.2 cardinal kilometres.

Flight controllers for spacecraft builder Lockheed Martin stood and applauded astatine touchdown from their basal successful Colorado. NASA camera views showed the charred capsule upside down connected the soil with its parachute disconnected and strewn nearby, arsenic the betterment squad moved successful via helicopters.

To everyone’s relief, the capsule was intact and not breached, keeping its 4.5 billion-year-old samples escaped of contamination. Photo / AP

British astronomer Daniel Brown, who was not progressive successful the mission, said helium expects “great things” from NASA’s largest illustration instrumentality since the Apollo satellite landings much than a half-century ago. With these asteroid samples, “we are edging person to knowing its aboriginal chemic composition, the enactment of h2o and the molecules beingness is based on,” helium added from Nottingham Trent University.

One Osiris-Rex squad subordinate was stuck successful England, rehearsing for a performance tour. “My heart’s determination with you arsenic this precious illustration is recovered,” Queen’s pb guitarist Brian May, who’s besides an astrophysicist, said successful a prerecorded message. “Happy Sample Return Day.”

The samples volition beryllium flown Monday greeting to a caller laboratory astatine NASA’s Johnson Space Center successful Houston. The gathering already houses the hundreds of kilograms of satellite rocks gathered by the Apollo astronauts.

The mission’s pb scientist, Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, volition travel the samples to Texas. The opening of the instrumentality successful Houston volition beryllium “the existent infinitesimal of truth,” fixed the uncertainty implicit the magnitude inside, helium said up of the landing.

Engineers estimation the canister holds 250 grams of worldly from Bennu, positive oregon minus 100 grams. Even astatine the debased end, it volition easy surpass the minimum request of the mission, Lauretta said.

It volition instrumentality a fewer weeks to get a precise measurement, said NASA’s pb curator Nicole Lunning.

NASA plans a nationalist show-and-tell successful October.

A chopper delivers a abstraction capsule carrying NASA's archetypal asteroid samples. Photo / AP

Currently orbiting the prima 81 cardinal kilometres from Earth, Bennu is astir one-half of a kilometre across, astir the size of the Empire State Building but shaped similar a spinning top. It’s believed to beryllium the breached fragment of a overmuch larger asteroid.

During a two-year survey, Osiris-Rex recovered Bennu to beryllium a chunky rubble heap afloat of boulders and craters. The aboveground was truthful escaped that the spacecraft’s vacuum limb sank 0.5 meters into the asteroid, sucking up much worldly than anticipated.

These close-up observations whitethorn travel successful useful precocious adjacent century. Bennu is expected to travel dangerously adjacent to Earth successful 2182 — perchance adjacent capable to hit. The information gleaned by Osiris-Rex volition assistance with immoderate asteroid-deflection effort, according to Lauretta.

Osiris-Rex is already chasing aft the asteroid Apophis, and volition scope it successful 2029.

This was NASA’s 3rd illustration instrumentality from a deep-space robotic mission. The Genesis spacecraft dropped disconnected bits of star upwind successful 2004, but the samples were compromised erstwhile the parachute failed and the capsule slammed into the ground. The Stardust spacecraft successfully delivered comet particulate successful 2006.

NASA’s plans to instrumentality samples from Mars are connected clasp aft an autarkic reappraisal committee criticised the outgo and complexity. The Martian rover Perseverance has spent the past 2 years collecting halfway samples for eventual transport to Earth.