Bennu is an asteroid that could threaten the Earth, though the possibility is a narrow one. Still, a wise move to find out what it is made of, just in case we need to eliminate it sometime in the future. Besides that, the always important question: what are WE made of, what are the prime building blocks of our solar system? Asteroids are untouched remnants of the solar system’s formation.<\/p>\n
Canada provided the instruments that made asteroid Bennu the most completely measured asteroid so far, and therefore will receive a portion of the sample for study. https:\/\/www.asc-csa.gc.ca\/eng\/satellites\/osiris-rex\/canadas-role.asp<\/a><\/p>\n The BBC has the story from the launch of the mission to the arrival at NASA, with videos here: https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/av\/science-environment-66907727<\/a><\/p>\n And of course the NASA site is a veritable rabbit hole, pictures, simulations, videos. https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/osiris-rex<\/a><\/p>\n But this isn’t the end of the story! OSIRIS-REx is now headed back out toward another asteroid. The spacecraft will arrive at Apophis<\/strong> in April 2029, around when the asteroid is expected to encounter Earth.\u00a0 A few years ago, Apophis was discovered to be on an actual collision course, which was the cause of a lot of excitement, but follow-up studies have it narrowly missing us. Whew! Good idea to learn about its composition. —Cathy<\/p>\n READ ALL ABOUT IT! NASA:<\/strong> https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/osiris-rex<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Canada played crucial role in OSIRIS-REx mission that collected asteroid fragments<\/p>\nCBC: An asteroid treasure box lands on Earth on Sunday \u2014 and Canada will get a piece of it<\/h4>\n