NASA’s OSIRIS-REx probe to collect samples from Asteroid Bennu
The United States-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched OSIRIS-REx to the asteroid Bennu in 2016. The mission aimed to study Asteroid Bennu and return at least 60 grams of the sample. Highlights After two years of circling, the satellite is to touch the asteroid. The spacecraft has three bottles of nitrogen. This means that it can touch down the asteroid thrice. What is the asteroid Bennu and why is it important? The asteroid Bennu is a potentially hazardous object which has a 1 in 2700 chance of hitting the Earth in the year 2175 and 2199. The asteroid has a mean diameter of 492 meters, has a roughly round shape and is under continuous observation by the various observatories of the Earth. The impact of Bennu on Earth is likely to cause widespread death in the side facing the impact and destruction all over the Earth with potentially human-extinction level incidents. What is the OSIRIS-REx probe? The OSIRIS-REx (short for Origins, Spectral Interpreta...