Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, September 24 (Xinhua)-- NASA's Osiris-REx asteroid sampling probe will return a module containing samples of the asteroid Benu's surface to Earth on the 24th EDT. If all goes well, the sample module will land in the desert of Utah at 10:55 (10:55 Beijing time), while the probe will move on to the next target, the asteroid Apophis.

According to CTOnews.com, the Osiris-REx probe, the first asteroid sampling probe in the United States, was launched in September 2016 and entered orbit around the asteroid Benu in December 2018. In October 2020, it used a robotic arm to collect about 250 grams of rock and dust samples on Benu's surface. In May 2021, it began its journey to send samples to Earth. The probe will release the sample chamber at an altitude of 102000 kilometers above the earth's surface, then ignite the engine and leave the earth's orbit.

The sample module will approach the earth at a speed of 44500 kilometers per hour, enter the earth's atmosphere four hours later, and then fly for about 13 minutes before landing in the Utah test training zone of the U.S. Department of Defense. After finding the sample cabin, the professionals will transport it by helicopter to a "clean room", open the sample chamber in the house and take out the container containing the sample. The next day, they will ship the samples to the Lyndon Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, for further processing.

Benu is a 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid that contains material from the early solar system. Scientists believe that asteroids like Benu may have provided water and organic compounds to Earth and may be rich in valuable resources and precious metals. The study of Benu will increase mankind's understanding of the formation of planets and the origin of life on Earth, laying the foundation for further exploration of the solar system in the future. At the same time, through the study of Benu, scientists hope to find more asteroids that are potentially threatening to the Earth, understand their orbits and physical characteristics, and study how to protect the Earth from impact.

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