To extract samples from his land in the hope of bringing them to the ground
"NASA": The American probe is close to landing on the asteroid Bennu
The probe, after approaching the asteroid, revealed that rocks covered its "hard and rugged" surface.
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After four years of travel, the American probe, "Osiris-Rex", will land on October 20 on the surface of the asteroid Bennu to extract samples from its land, in the hope of bringing them to our planet, and perhaps lighting up how our solar system is formed, as announced by the US Space Agency (NASA).
The asteroid, which has a diameter of 490 meters, was carefully chosen for this mission, as scientists believed, based on observations made with telescopes, that its Earth was covered with sand like "beach sand," according to the scientific official in charge of the mission, Danatah Lauretta, of the University of Arizona, in a conference call.
A surface of this type would facilitate sample extraction.
But the probe showed, after approaching the asteroid at the end of 2018, that rocks covered its "hard and rugged" surface.
The crew spent the year 2019 carefully mapping the surface to choose a safe location for sampling.
The choice ultimately fell on the Nightingale Crater.
On October 20, the probe will slowly approach Benno before extending its electronic arm to extract samples from a relatively flat area of eight meters in diameter.
"Years of preparation and hard work will be reduced to this petition, which is limited to five to 10 seconds," said deputy project leader at NASA, Mike Morrow.
Upon touching the ground, the robot will blow nitrogen to disperse rocky crumbs that are captured by the Osaire-Rex arm.
The goal is to collect at least 60 grams.
If the probe does not collect enough samples, it can be tried again on another crater in January.
Next March, "Oasis-Rex" will begin its return journey to Earth, and will land in the Utah desert on September 24, 2023.
- He was chosen
asteroid,
Adult drop
490 meters, carefully
For this mission.
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