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 91裸聊视频� 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 91裸聊视频� called Bennu 91裸聊视频� 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 91裸聊视频� a device that measures altitude and distance 91裸聊视频� that has allowed Bennu to become the 91裸聊视频渕ost precisely surveyed body in our solar system,91裸聊视频� 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, Canada91裸聊视频檚 altimeter 91裸聊视频� known as OLA 91裸聊视频� 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.
91裸聊视频淚n total, we laid down more than three billion measurements 91裸聊视频� so this now provides a very highly precise map of the asteroid, Dickinson told a recent news conference.
NASA91裸聊视频檚 OSIRIS-REx is the first asteroid sample-return mission in which Canada has participated 91裸聊视频� and it entitles the country to some of the space rocks.
91裸聊视频淚n exchange for this contribution, Canadian scientists have been on the OSIRIS REx science team from the very beginning,91裸聊视频� John Moores, science adviser to the president of the Canadian Space Agency, told a recent briefing on the mission.
91裸聊视频淎s well, Canada will become the fifth country in the world to receive a sample collected in space.91裸聊视频�
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 91裸聊视频渋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.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淎nd so this is how we91裸聊视频檙e able to study the raw ingredients of the solar system as they were billions and billions and billions of years ago,91裸聊视频� Haltigin said.
The mission selected Bennu because it was close enough to reach and large enough from which to secure a sample 91裸聊视频� and also because of what it is made of.
91裸聊视频淭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,91裸聊视频� Haltigin said.
A piece of Bennu won91裸聊视频檛 be coming to Canada right away 91裸聊视频� the country91裸聊视频檚 space agency needs to first build a facility in which to store the rare find.
91裸聊视频淲e91裸聊视频檙e not on the same timeline as NASA to receive the sample 91裸聊视频� that91裸聊视频檚 been understood since the beginning,91裸聊视频� said Caroline-Emmanuelle Morisset, program scientist, space exploration development with the CSA. 91裸聊视频淭he sample will reside at NASA for a time before it91裸聊视频檚 transferred to Canada.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淲hat we need is a clean room,91裸聊视频� Morisset said. 91裸聊视频淭hose are rooms where the air is all filtered to ensure that there91裸聊视频檚 no particulates from Earth that come in contact with the sample.91裸聊视频�
The total size of the shipment of dust and pebbles is about 250 grams, plus or minus 100 grams; Canada91裸聊视频檚 portion is about four per cent of that 91裸聊视频� somewhere between six and 14 grams, Morisset said.
But she says that91裸聊视频檚 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.
91裸聊视频淵ou know, with milligrams of sample we can do a lot of science,91裸聊视频� Morisset said.
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