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- The asteroid known as Bennu has revealed some tantalizing secrets from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.
- Some rocks and features on the asteroid’s surface appear to indicate that water once flowed over its surface or that of its parent asteroid.
- NASA’s asteroid probe will begin its journey back to Earth in December and will return to Earth in 2023.
Water is precious in the universe. It’s a vital ingredient for life as we know it, so finding out where it came from, what kinds of planets and other bodies have it, and how much of it made it to Earth is incredibly important if we want to understand origins. of life on Earth.
Now, researchers studying the nearby asteroid Bennu have come to a rather surprising conclusion: The massive space rock that NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has been studying for a couple of years may have once had rivers. Yes, rivers in an asteroid. That’s a really wild thing.
Several new research articles focusing on Bennu and his story were recently published in both Science and Science Advances. They examine the discoveries that OSIRIS-REx has made so far and try to paint a clearer picture of the incredibly interesting history of the space rock.
The discovery that there was probably water on the surface of the asteroid, or at least on the surface of Bennu’s larger parent asteroid of which Bennu was a part, was made thanks to the identification of minerals on its surface.
“Our recent studies show that organic and mineral compounds associated with the presence of water are widely scattered around Bennu’s surface, so any sample returned to Earth should contain these compounds and minerals,” said Dr. Vicky. Hamilton, a co-author of several of the new papers, said in a statement. “We will compare the relative abundances of organic compounds, carbonates, silicates and other minerals in the sample with those of the meteorites to help determine the scenarios that best explain the composition of Bennu’s surface.”
Bennu has been called a “rubble heap” due to its incredibly rocky surface. The asteroid, which the scientists thought might be somewhat smooth, turned out to be covered in debris and rocks of all sizes. Some of the larger rocks show evidence of minerals hinting at a water flow in the asteroid’s past.
“The scattered boulders near the Nightingale site have bright carbonate streaks,” explains Hamilton. “Bennu shares this compositional trait with water-altered meteorites. This correlation suggests that at least some carbonaceous asteroids were altered by water seepage in the early Solar System. “
The OSIRIS-REx mission is not over yet, as the ultimate goal of the spacecraft is to collect a sample from the asteroid’s surface and then return it to Earth. The spacecraft will depart from Bennu in December this year and carry the material to Earth, where it will arrive in late 2023.
Mike Wehner has reported on technology and video games for the past decade, covering the latest news and trends in virtual reality, wearable devices, smartphones, and future technology. Most recently, Mike served as a technology editor at The Daily Dot and has been featured in USA Today, Time.com, and many other print and web media. His love of reporting is second only to his addiction to games.
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