Bennu (preliminary designation 1999 RQ36) is an asteroid belonging to the Apollon group, which was discovered on September 11, 1999 as part of the LINEAR project. Among other things, it is about an asteroid, which is included in the list of possible threats in the form of a possible impact on Earth. That's one of the reasons it is this asteroid is the target of the OSIRIS-REx scientific mission. During it, the asteroid is to be mapped and samples are to be taken from its surface, with which the spacecraft will return to Earth in 2023 for their more detailed research. After the asteroid Itokawa, from which a sample of surface dust was collected and transported back, Bennu is to become another asteroid, whose samples will be transported to Earth in a targeted manner. Wikipedia

NASA successfully landed on the planet

As the probe landed on the surface of the asteroid to take samples, there was tremendous cheers and applause in NASA's hall. A probe on the planet collects debris and transports it back to Earth for detailed analysis. She should return to Earth in September 2023. Preliminary data show that sampling was on schedule. However, it will take several days to see if the probe has removed enough rock for the necessary analysis.

OSIRIX-REx Probe Test Arm (© AP)

NASA's Jim Bridenstine says:

"This is one of the most important journeys into the Universe since the time of Apollo. If everything goes smoothly, the scientists will be able to study the samples for more and more generations. "

Japan - Hayabusa2

I Japan began some time ago with a mission called Hayabusa2. The probe should return back to Earth in December 2020, the planned landing is currently scheduled for 6.12.2020. The probe should bring samples from the asteroid Ryugu.

Sampling from Benn

With the asteroid only 510 meters in diameter, Bennu's gravity was too low for Osiris-Rex to land. He therefore had to take samples in the style of short contact with the surface. Some call it a "quick kiss."

Sampling was performed as the probe approached the asteroid surface, a brief contact of the probe mechanism with the asteroid surface took place, during which the probe expelled the compressed nitrogen. This caused a swirl of dust, which the probe caught and removed. The probe has only a limited number of experiments, so all scientists at NASA hope that the sampling went smoothly and that the probe will transport everything back to Earth in good condition.

Scientists need at least 60g to 2kg of carbon-rich material, which can be the building block of our entire circulatory system.

NASA's chief of science mission, Thomas Zurbuchen, likened Benna to Rosett's stone - "something out there that tells the story of our entire Earth and solar system over the past billions of years."

NASA plans to launch three more missions in the next two years to explore asteroids.

OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on the planet Bennu:

Tip from Sueneé Universe

Christian Davenport: Space Barons - Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and the Campaign to Settle the Universe

A book Space barons is the story of a group of billionaire entrepreneurs (Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and others) who invest their assets in the epic resurrection of the American space program.

Nearly half a century after Neil Armstrong stood on the moon, these space barons - notably Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos along with Richard Branson and Paul Allen - use Silicon Valley innovations to dramatically reduce space travel costs and send people even further. than where NASA has succeeded. These entrepreneurs are the owners of the world's largest companies - Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla or PayPal - and are gradually changing one industry after another. Now they have decided to change the biggest: the universe.

This fact-based book is based on years of journalistic work and exclusive interviews with all four billionaires. It offers a dramatic story about the risks, adventures and birth of a new space age, backed by some of the world's richest men trying to break the government's monopoly on space. The space barons are also a story of ambitious and competing start-ups fighting established contractors, as well as personal disputes between the leaders of this new space movement, especially Musk and Bezos, who are heading for the moon, Mars and beyond.

CHRISTIAN DAVENPORT works for The Washington Post, which deals with the space and defense industries. He has won the Peabody Award for his work on veterans with traumatic brain injuries and has been a member of the Pulitzer Prize finalists three times.

Christian Davenport: Space Barons - Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and the Campaign to Settle the Universe