?What is the secret of the great interest in dust taken from the asteroid “Bennu”
The day before yesterday, Sunday, the first vehicle carrying asteroid samples brought by NASA from deep space landed in the Utah desert, after a 7-year journey.
In a few days, NASA scientists will open the capsule containing a soil sample from the asteroid Bennu, which is one of the oldest planets in the universe, in order to delve deeper into the secrets of our solar system.
According to Sky News, the sample taken from the asteroid Bennu is estimated to be about 250 grams, which is much larger than the sample taken from the Ryugu asteroid in 2020, which was 5 grams in size.
Scientists revealed that the capsule contains at least a cup of carbon-rich Bennu asteroid rubble, but they will not announce with certainty the timing of opening the container.
The samples, which come from an ancient asteroid that has been around since the dawn of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago, will help scientists better understand how life and Earth formed.
The ancient asteroid "Bennu" is currently orbiting the sun at a distance of 81 million kilometers from Earth. It is the size of the famous Empire State Building in America, and is about half a kilometer wide.
For her part, Dante Lauretta, the lead scientist for the mission from the University of Arizona, said: “Before the samples are transported to Texas, opening the container in Houston within the next day or two will be the moment of truth, given the doubts about the quantity inside.”
A danger threatening planet Earth
Sky News confirmed that there is another reason for scientists' interest in the asteroid Bennu, which is the most dangerous space rock known in the solar system.
She added: "Scientists' interest is due to the possibility of the asteroid colliding with Earth at a rate of 1 in 2700 in the year 2182, which is large enough to create a crater 6 kilometers wide and cause an air explosion."
She explained that the collision would level buildings on an area of hundreds of square kilometers, but with the study of the sample, scientists will have a better understanding of how to deal with the threat of its collision with the Earth.
Source: websites