ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 NASA\u2019s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has discovered ingredients for water on a relatively nearby skyscraper-sized asteroid, a rocky acorn-shaped object that\u2026<\/b>
\nORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 NASA\u2019s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has discovered ingredients for water on a relatively nearby skyscraper-sized asteroid, a rocky acorn-shaped object that may hold clues to the origins of life on Earth, scientists said on Monday.
OSIRIS-REx, which flew last week within a scant 12 miles of the asteroid Bennu some 1.4 million miles from Earth, found traces of hydrogen and oxygen molecules \u2014 part of the recipe for water and thus the potential for life \u2014 embedded in the asteroid\u2019s rocky surface.
The probe, on a mission to return samples from the asteroid to Earth for study, was launched in 2016. Bennu, roughly a third of a mile wide, orbits the sun at roughly the same distance as Earth. There is concern among scientists about the possibility of Bennu impacting Earth late in the 22nd century.
\u201cWe have found the water-rich minerals from the early solar system, which is exactly the kind of sample we were going out there to find and ultimately bring back to Earth,\u201d University of Arizona planetary scientist Dante Lauretta, the OSIRIS-REx mission\u2019s principal investigator, said in a telephone interview.
Asteroids are among the leftover debris from the solar system\u2019s formation some 4.5 billion years ago. Scientists believe asteroids and comets crashing into early Earth may have delivered organic compounds and water that seeded the planet for life and atomic-level analysis of samples from Bennu could provide key evidence to support that hypothesis.
\u201cWhen samples of this material are returned by the mission to Earth in 2023, scientists will receive a treasure trove of new information about the history and evolution of our solar system,\u201d Amy Simon, a scientist at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said in a statement.
\u201cWe\u2019re really trying to understand the role that these carbon-rich asteroids played in delivering water to the early Earth and making it habitable,\u201d Lauretta added.
OSIRIS-REx will pass later this month just 1.2 miles from Bennu, entering the asteroid\u2019s gravitational pull and analyzing its terrain. From there, the spacecraft will begin to gradually tighten its orbit around the asteroid, spiraling to within just 6 feet of its surface so its robot arm can snatch a sample of Bennu by July 2020.
The spacecraft will later fly back to Earth, jettisoning a capsule bearing the asteroid specimen for a parachute descent in the Utah desert in September 2023.<\/p>\n