A bounty of Bennu
NASA shared exciting images from the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission. The canister, now in the hands of technicians, is still in the process of being opened (the space agency is struggling to open the container—yikes), but a plethora of asteroid material on the exterior surface is keeping them busy; the interior contents can wait while these “bonus” materials are extracted and preserved.
Initial studies of the 4.5-billion-year-old space rock, which OSIRIS-REx collected and brought back to Earth, reveal traces of high-carbon content and water. This combo might just be a hint that the building blocks of life on Earth could be packed inside of asteroids. This is the first peek at the asteroid material since it landed in September, and the findings come from an early analysis by the science team from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission.
