NASA's OSIRIS-REx has begun to enter its harvest period, with officials releasing the first preliminary results from the sample return mission from the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu, showing the presence of high carbon and water - the main building blocks of life.
On September 24, 2023, NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security - Rock Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission accomplished its primary objective when a sealed sample return capsule landed at the U.S. Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Site 80 miles (129 kilometers) southwest of Salt Lake City.
The cabin contains 8.8 ounces (250 grams) of rock and dust collected by the mother ship from the asteroid Bennu in 2020. Or, more accurately, it held at least that much, because NASA scientists were pleasantly surprised when they discovered that a somewhat sloppy collection system had left extra material on the outside of the collector head, tank lid, and base.
According to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, preliminary analysis of the sample shows that this is the largest carbon-rich asteroid sample ever delivered to Earth. We hope this will help us understand how life emerged on Earth, where it might exist elsewhere in the solar system, and the overall composition of asteroids.
A complete study of the samples can take decades, so we handle them with great care using a new clean room specially built for asteroid missions. It took 10 days to disassemble the capsule, with the extra material slowing down the delicate operation. The samples are currently undergoing scanning electron microscopy, infrared measurements, X-ray diffraction and chemical element analysis.
Over the next two years, only 30% of the samples will be analyzed, with the other 70% being preserved for future research.
"As we peer into the ancient secrets preserved in the dust and rocks of asteroid Bennu, we are opening a time capsule that provides us with profound insights into the origin of the solar system," said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The hydrated clay minerals here are just the tip of the cosmic iceberg. These discoveries, made possible by years of collaborative work and cutting-edge scientific research, advance not only our understanding of our celestial neighborhood, but also the potential for the origins of life. With each discovery of Bennu, we get closer to unraveling the mysteries of our universe's legacy."