An armoured asteroid? Yes, NASA says it exists and can reveal secrets of our solar system
It has been almost six years since the NASA OSIRIS-REx spacecraft first took its flight towards a very special target. Unlike most NASA missions, it was not going for a planet or a moon but a 450-metres wide asteroid known as 101955 Bennu. The objective of this unusual mission was to collect at least 60 grams of sample from this asteroid and bring it back to Earth. Why? Because scientists believe that this asteroid could be the key to unlocking the past of our solar system. While the spacecraft will not make its touchdown to Earth till 2023, it has revealed something even more interesting about asteroid Bennu. Apparently this primitive asteroid is also covered with a body armour. Read on to know more. Also read: NASA, ESA discuss sending first European to Moon
The OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) spacecraft was launched on September 8, 2016. In September 2017, flew past the Earth and in 2018, it finally reached Bennu. After spending around two years analysing the surface to find a suitable site to extract a sample, it finally collected between 400g and one kilogram of sample. Ever since then, it has been observing various other traits of this asteroid and it has made some remarkable discoveries.
During regular observations, NASA astronomers tried to calculate the age of the asteroid as one of the main reasons behind this mission was that the asteroid was considered to be very primitive. While without testing the sample, it is not possible to accurately determine its age, scientists have figured out a unique method to find out how old a celestial object is and it revolves around their impact craters.
“Planetary scientists can estimate the age of surfaces by
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