The Osiris-Rex probe is within 19km of the asteroid BennuIt will scoop up samples from the asteroid before returning them to Earth in 2023
After a two-year chase, a Nasa spacecraft arrived Monday at the ancient asteroid Bennu, its first visitor in billions of years.
The robotic explorer Osiris-Rex pulled within 19km (12 miles) of the diamond-shaped space rock. It will get even closer in the days ahead and go into orbit around Bennu on December 31. No spacecraft has ever orbited such a small cosmic body.
It is the first US attempt to gather asteroid samples for return to Earth, something only Japan has accomplished so far.
Flight controllers applauded and exchanged high-fives once confirmation came through that Osiris-Rex made it to Bennu – exactly one week after Nasa landed a spacecraft on Mars.
“Relieved, proud, and anxious to start exploring!” tweeted lead scientist Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona. “To Bennu and back!”
With Bennu some 122 million km (76 million miles) away – although Osiris-Rex’s roundabout journey was much further – it took seven minutes for word to get from the spacecraft to flight controllers at Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colorado.
