On September 24 this year, a NASA capsule parachuted down to Earth carrying a precious cache of material grabbed from an asteroid. The space agency has now revealed images and a preliminary analysis of the space rocks it found after lifting the lid off that capsule.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The Osiris-Rex sample return capsule shortly after touching down in the Utah desert. Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber The mission to the asteroid was called Osiris-Rex, and in 2020, it collected a sample of material from the asteroid Bennu. Afterward, it traveled back to Earth and released the capsule containing the rocks into our atmosphere three weeks ago. The fine black dust and small coal-like rocks shimmering in the capsule are beautiful—and somewhat unassuming. But this handful of space rock has the potential to answer questions about not only how the Earth was created, but also how water arrived here and how life got started. At the NASA press conference on October 11 held to reveal details about the sample, Dr. Francis McCubbin hinted that, with careful storage and preparation, the material could be analyzed and used in experiments for years to come. "Scientists that aren't even born yet, (will be able to) answer questions about the universe using technology that has not even been invented," said the astromaterials curator at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, where the Bennu sample is being stored. Why collect asteroid samples? Sometimes material from space comes to Earth without our help, arriving as meteorites. NASA has hundreds of meteorite samples in its collection, which are believed to have come from asteroids. Useful analysis can be carried out on these samples. However, it's often not possible to track down which asteroids these meteorites came from. This limits the potential of the resulting science. Meteorites are also contaminated by their journey through the atmosphere and onto the Earth. The Osiris-Rex sample, in contrast, is "pristine." We can be sure any discoveries made from this sample tell us about Bennu. Some of the finer dust in the Bennu sample…