Enlarge / A glance contained in the clear room the place OSIRIS-REx’s samples will likely be saved. (credit score: NASA)
Christmas Day for scientists who examine asteroids is coming in simply two months when a small spacecraft carrying materials from a distant rubble pile will land in a Utah desert.
The return of the OSIRIS-REx pattern container on September 24 will cap the first mission to seize materials from an asteroid—on this case, the carbonaceous near-Earth asteroid Bennu—and return a few of its pebbles and mud to Earth.
It has been a very long time coming. This mission launched seven years in the past and has been within the planning and growth section for over a decade. To say the scientists who’ve fought for and executed this mission are anxious and excited is an understatement. However there may be a further frisson with OSIRIS-REx, as scientists usually are not totally certain what they have been in a position to draw back from the asteroid.
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