NASA OSIRIS REX Returns Bennu Asteroid Sample in 2023
The NASA spacecraft OSIRIS REX which delivers samples from the Bennu Asteroid has changed its course and is returning to the earth.
The OSIRIS REX spacecraft used its thrusters for a brief period of time on September 21, 2022, in order to alter its path and return to Earth. The Bennu Asteroid has a 0.037 percent (or 1 in 2,700) chance of colliding with the Earth. Researchers expect to discover more about the solar system's building blocks and perhaps even about the components of life itself. Asteroid Bennu (1999 RQ36) is now 266,108,646 kilometers (1.778826 astronomical units) away from Earth. Bennu is an old remnant from the early solar system that has lived through more than 4.5 billion years of history.
The strongest evidence indicates that Bennu's present-day chemistry and mineralogy were already formed within 10 million years of the birth of our solar system. Bennu was found on September 11, 1999, by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research during a near-Earth asteroid survey (LINEAR). In May 2021, OSIRIS-REx departed Bennu to start its arduous return trip to Earth. It will release the capsule containing Bennu material into Earth's atmosphere in September 2023. The capsule will drop into the Utah desert and land there.
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