NASA successfully parachutes asteroid sample to Utah desert; check details

The Spacecraft orbited the asteroid and brought soil samples through a loose surface in its robotic arm. It then departed from the Bennu Asteroid in May 2021 marking a 1.2 billion-mile (1.9 billion km) journey back to Earth.

In a monumental achievement, a NASA space capsule marked a historic landing in Utah, heralding a significant milestone in space exploration. This remarkable event saw the safe return of a capsule carrying an unprecedented amount of soil samples collected from the Bennu Asteroid, thanks to NASA's OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft.

The OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft embarked on its mission in September 2016, representing a collaborative endeavor spanning six years between NASA and the University of Arizona. The primary objective of this joint venture was to closely study near-Earth asteroids, a critical aspect of space research. After a two-year journey, the OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft successfully reached its destination, the Bennu Asteroid, in 2018.

The Spacecraft orbited the asteroid and brought soil samples through a loose surface in its robotic arm. It then departed from the Bennu Asteroid in May 2021 marking a 1.2 billion-mile (1.9 billion km) journey back to Earth.

The sample from the Bennu asteroid contains 250 grams (8.8 ounces) of surface soil. This is the largest surface sample from any asteroid so far. On Sunday, the capsule released from the spacecraft touched down at a landing zone in the U.S. military’s vast Utah Test and Training Range.

The gumdrop-shaped capsule while landing recorded a temperature of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,800 C) on its heat shield. A similar mission from the Japanese space agency facilitated the return of 5 grams of surface soil sample from the Ryugu asteroid in 2020.

Bennu asteroid is a relic of the early solar system. The asteroid holds a valuable understanding of the origins of the Earth as it was formed close to 4.5 billion years ago. Scientists have shown interest in the Bennu asteroid because present-day chemistry and mineralogy remain unchanged from 4.5 billion years ago.

The Bennu asteroid may include organic molecules identical to those crucial for the emergence of microbes. The Ryugu asteroid samples that were analyzed two years ago contained two organic compounds.