A NASA space capsule carrying the largest-ever soil sample from an asteroid descended through Earth's atmosphere and safely landed in the Utah desert on Sunday. The capsule was released from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which had collected the celestial specimen from the surface of the asteroid Bennu three years ago.
This achievement marked a historic moment as the third asteroid sample ever returned to Earth for analysis, and it was by far the largest. Japan's space agency had previously conducted two similar missions, in 2010 and 2020.
Bennu, a carbon-rich asteroid discovered in 1999, is classified as a "near-Earth object" due to its close proximity to our planet every six years, though the chances of impact are remote. Despite its small size (500 meters or 1,600 feet wide), Bennu is a valuable relic of the early solar system. Its chemistry and mineralogy have remained nearly unchanged for approximately 4.5 billion years, providing insights into the origins and evolution of rocky planets like Earth. Bennu may even contain organic molecules crucial for the emergence of life.
The Japanese mission Hayabusa2, which returned samples from the asteroid Ryugu three years ago, found two organic compounds in the samples. This discovery supported the idea that celestial objects like comets, asteroids, and meteorites delivered essential ingredients for life to the early Earth.
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The OSIRIS-REx mission began in September 2016 and reached Bennu in 2018. After nearly two years of orbiting the asteroid, the spacecraft used its robot arm to collect a sample of surface material in October 2020. It departed Bennu in May 2021 for a 1.2-billion-mile journey back to Earth, which included two orbits around the sun.
The capsule re-entered Earth's atmosphere at 35 times the speed of sound, glowing red hot during its descent. Parachutes deployed, slowing it to 11 mph before gently landing in Utah. A team of scientists and technicians awaited the capsule's retrieval to ensure the integrity of the asteroid material was maintained and free of terrestrial contamination.
After securing the capsule, the sample will be examined in a "clean room" at the Utah test range and then transported to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. It will be distributed to around 200 scientists in 60 laboratories worldwide for further analysis. Meanwhile, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will continue its journey to explore another near-Earth asteroid named Apophis.
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