Planet Earth is about to receive a special delivery — the biggest sample yet from an asteroid.A NASA spacecraft will fly by Earth on Sunday and drop off what is expected to be at least a cupful of rubble it grabbed from the asteroid Bennu, closing out a seven-year quest.The sample capsule will parachute into the Utah desert as its mothership, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft, zooms off for an encounter with another asteroid.
FILE – This artist’s rendering made available by NASA on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016 depicts the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security – Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft contacting the asteroid Bennu with the Touch-And-Go Sample Arm Mechanism. On Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will fly by Earth and drop off what is expected to be at least a cupful of rubble it grabbed from the asteroid Bennu, closing out a seven-year quest. (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center via AP, File)
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Scientists anticipate getting about a half pound (250 grams) of pebbles and dust, much more than the teaspoon or so brought back by Japan from two other asteroids. No other country has fetched pieces of asteroids, preserved time capsules from the dawn of our solar system that can help explain how Earth — and life — came to be.Sunday’s landing concludes a 4 billion-mile (6.2-billion-kilometer) journey highlighted by the rendezvous with the carbon-rich Bennu, a unique pogo stick-style touchdown and sample grab, a jammed lid that sent some of the stash spilling into space, and now the return of NASA’s first asteroid samples.
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“I ask myself how many heart-pounding moments can you have in one lifetime because I feel like I might be hitting my limit,” said the University of Arizona’s Dante Lauretta, the mission’s lead scientist.
FILE – This undated image provided by NASA shows the asteroid Bennu seen from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. On Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will fly by Earth and drop off what is expected to be at least a cupful of rubble it grabbed from Bennu, closing out a seven-year quest. (NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/CSA/York/MDA via AP, File)
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A brief look at the spacecraft and its cargo:THE LONG JOURNEYAsteroid chaser Osiris-Rex blasted off on the $1 billion mission in 2016. It arrived at Bennu in 2018 and spent the next two years flying around the small spinning space rock and scouting out the best place to grab samples. Three years ago, the spacecraft swooped in and reached out with its 11-foot (3-meter) stick vacuum, momentarily touching the asteroid’s surface and sucking up dust and pebbles. The device pressed down with such force and grabbed so much that rocks became wedged around the rim of the lid. As samples drifted off into space, Lauretta and his team scrambled to get the remaining material into the capsule. The exact amount inside won’t be known until the container is opened.
FILE – In this image from video released by NASA, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft touches the surface of asteroid Bennu on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020. On Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will fly by Earth and drop off what is expected to be at …
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