Glavin mentioned that as per one of the theories, meteorites belonging to asteroids and comets might have seeded the initial Earth with a few of the stepping stones of the life.Glavin said that on the basis of meteorite analyses, they have found that some of these meteorites possess these odd compounds, but they were polluted by the Earth.
Advertisement
The findings may also improve our understanding of asteroids that could impact Earth, researchers said. In December 2021, NASA plans to launch a robotic mission that will travel to an asteroid, grab a multiton boulder off its surface, bring it back-and then put it in orbit around the moon.
“The launch of OSIRIS-REx is the beginning a seven-year journey to return pristine samples from asteroid Bennu”, said OSIRIS-REx Principal Investigator Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson.
He said that NASA provides the best opportunity for scientific discovery and that the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft embodies the agency’s goal to “innovate, explore, discover and inspire”.
The spacecraft has two systems that will enable the sample collection and return.
The mission will leave Earth on September 8 atop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Phys.org reports.
It is an asteroid sample return mission known as the OSIRIS-REx mission (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security and Regolith Explorer).
NASA is leading an global collaboration that’ll soon launch a seven-year sample return mission to an asteroid.
Lab work at the Goddard Space Flight Center has found organic compounds in the meteorites that hit the Earth, but they were contaminated.
Once there, the spacecraft will collect surface dirt and rocks from the asteroid, bringing back samples to Earth from 4.5 billion years ago.
The main problem with this was that because there is zero gravity, any device might scatter instead of gather dust. So, years ago, Lockheed Martin engineer Jim Harris began practicing with a reverse-vacuum concept in his driveway.
Luckily, NASA has the best minds working to discover how to overcome this obstacle.
The idea for a device that could unveil the origins of life in our solar system began with a Solo cup.
One of the most important instruments that’ll travel aboard this mission, with respect to the sample return, is OLA (the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter).
Harris started placing the Solo cup with the rim facing down on the ground. But the final name is TAGSAM, an acronym for the Touch and Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism.
The sample will not be taken until July 2020, allowing the spacecraft time to closely study the asteroid so scientists can pick the most promising region, says Gordon Johnston, an OSIRIS-REx program executive at NASA headquarters.
Advertisement
Bennu is taller than the Eiffel Tower and passes by Earth every six years.
