Seven years after it blasted into space to snag a sample of an asteroid, a spacecraft is set to deliver its rare cargo on Sunday B次元官网网址� and Canada is getting a piece of the interstellar bounty.
The NASA-led mission launched OSIRIS-REx into space in 2016 to collect from the surface of an asteroid material that scientists hope will offer them insight into the formation of the solar system. The spacecraft began orbiting the asteroid B次元官网网址� called Bennu B次元官网网址� in 2018 and grabbed a sample in 2020.
It started its return trip to Earth in 2021, and a capsule with the rocks and space dust is expected to land in the Utah desert on Sunday, before the spacecraft continues on a mission to another asteroid.
Canada contributed a laser altimeter to the mission B次元官网网址� a device that measures altitude and distance B次元官网网址� that has allowed Bennu to become the B次元官网网址渕ost precisely surveyed body in our solar system,B次元官网网址� says Cameron Dickinson, a staff engineer at Canadian space company MDA Ltd., which designed the Canadian component of the spacecraft.
By taking billions of measurements of the asteroid over two years, CanadaB次元官网网址檚 altimeter B次元官网网址� known as OLA B次元官网网址� helped scientists select the best location on the asteroid from which to gather a sample. The craft then briefly landed on the asteroid to collect the material.
B次元官网网址淚n total, we laid down more than three billion measurements B次元官网网址� so this now provides a very highly precise map of the asteroid, Dickinson told a recent news conference.
NASAB次元官网网址檚 OSIRIS-REx is the first asteroid sample-return mission in which Canada has participated B次元官网网址� and it entitles the country to some of the space rocks.
B次元官网网址淚n exchange for this contribution, Canadian scientists have been on the OSIRIS REx science team from the very beginning,B次元官网网址� John Moores, science adviser to the president of the Canadian Space Agency, told a recent briefing on the mission.
B次元官网网址淎s well, Canada will become the fifth country in the world to receive a sample collected in space.B次元官网网址�
Tim Haltigin, planetary senior mission scientist with The Canadian Space Agency, has worked on the project for a decade. Asteroids, he said, are leftover ingredients from the formation of the solar system, and getting a sample from one B次元官网网址渋s sort of like going back into a cosmic mixing bowl and pulling out individual grains of sugar and a bit of flour and, you know, maybe a chocolate chip.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淎nd so this is how weB次元官网网址檙e able to study the raw ingredients of the solar system as they were billions and billions and billions of years ago,B次元官网网址� Haltigin said.
The mission selected Bennu because it was close enough to reach and large enough from which to secure a sample B次元官网网址� and also because of what it is made of.
B次元官网网址淭here was only about a handful (of asteroids) that were made of some of the most interesting scientific materials that allow us to answer some of these fundamental questions about the origins of the solar system,B次元官网网址� Haltigin said.
A piece of Bennu wonB次元官网网址檛 be coming to Canada right away B次元官网网址� the countryB次元官网网址檚 space agency needs to first build a facility in which to store the rare find.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e not on the same timeline as NASA to receive the sample B次元官网网址� thatB次元官网网址檚 been understood since the beginning,B次元官网网址� said Caroline-Emmanuelle Morisset, program scientist, space exploration development with the CSA. B次元官网网址淭he sample will reside at NASA for a time before itB次元官网网址檚 transferred to Canada.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淲hat we need is a clean room,B次元官网网址� Morisset said. B次元官网网址淭hose are rooms where the air is all filtered to ensure that thereB次元官网网址檚 no particulates from Earth that come in contact with the sample.B次元官网网址�
The total size of the shipment of dust and pebbles is about 250 grams, plus or minus 100 grams; CanadaB次元官网网址檚 portion is about four per cent of that B次元官网网址� somewhere between six and 14 grams, Morisset said.
But she says thatB次元官网网址檚 plenty to keep scientists busy for years. The two Japan-led Hayabusa missions brought back a total of about five grams of asteroid, which she said provided decades worth of science.
B次元官网网址淵ou know, with milligrams of sample we can do a lot of science,B次元官网网址� Morisset said.
READ ALSO:
