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FP trendOctober 13, 2020 5:11:56 PM IST
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is ready to make its first touch-and-go (TAG) sample collection attempt on the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. However, before the Oct. 20 operation, scientists detailed the material that can be found on the asteroid’s surface in a series of articles.
The researchers say the Bennu samples could present us with materials never seen before. In one of the articles, led by Amy Simon of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the scientists discuss the possibility of finding hydrated minerals and organic material in the sample. in a Press release, the researchers mention that the form of carbon present in this organic matter is associated with biology.
The four candidate landing sites at Bennu. Image: NASA
The team has also used the spacecraft’s visible and infrared spectrometer to establish that carbonate minerals make up some of the asteroid’s geological features. According to the statement, carbonate minerals are often precipitated from “hydrothermal systems containing water and carbon dioxide” and some of the places where scientists believe carbonate exists are near the main sample collection site, Nightingale Crater. Therefore, experts are optimistic about finding some carbonate in the returned sample.
Now if Bennu is shown to carry carbonate, then it means that his parent body had an “asteroid-scale hydrothermal water system”, or an ancient river that flowed through cracks and has now left carbonate.
Hannah Kaplan, co-author of the articles spoke with Popular science on the importance of the discovery. The material found on the asteroid could answer how or what form of organic matter had led to the presence of life on Earth.
The study has been published in the journals Sciences Y Scientific advances October 8.
NASA had launched OSIRIS-REx in 2016 to travel to Bennu and return with the samples. After landing in the crater, the spacecraft will depart Bennu in 2021 and deliver the collected sample to Earth on September 24, 2023.
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