Utah, United States

NASA on Sunday successfully brought to the Earth the largest soil sample scooped from the surface of the asteroid, Bennu. 

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The asteroid sample streaked through our planet's surface and parachuted into the Utah desert, delivering precious cargo — a celestial specimen that can potentially hold answers to questions like how Earth became habitable and much more.

Origin story

Asteroid samples, as per an AFP report, are composed of the 'original materials of the solar system' and are considered relics of the early solar system. 

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These materials date back around 4.5 billion years, have remained relatively intact and, as per Osiris-Rex program executive Melissa Morris, "can give us clues about how the solar system formed and evolved."

Also read | Watch | NASA spacecraft lands successfully in Utah with largest sample collected from asteroid Bennu

"It's our own origin story," she said, as quoted by AFP.

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NASA scientist Amy Simon told AFP that it is hypothesised that by striking Earth's surface, "we do believe asteroids and comets delivered organic material, potentially water, that helped life flourish here on Earth."

The Asteroid behind it all

The celestial samples were collected three year ago from Bennu, a small, carbon-rich asteroid that was discovered in 1999.

Classified as a "near-Earth object", Bennu passes relatively close to the Earth every six years.

The asteroid is made up of a loose collection of rocks and is rich in carbon, which is the building block of life on Earth. Scientists believe that it might contain water molecules locked in minerals.

Bennu measures just 500 metres or 1,640 feet in diameter, which means it is tiny compared to the Chicxulub asteroid that some 66 million years ago struck Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs. 

Even though Bennu passes by Earth every few years, the odds of an impact are considered remote, but not zero.

Also read | US Federal Aviation Administration proposes revolutionary way to limit human litter in Earth's orbit

Scientists estimate that the asteroid could catastrophically collide with Earth. They estimate that the catastrophe which has a one in 2,700 chance of happening will not happen till the year 2182. This is another reason why understanding Bennu's composition can come in handy.

Three years back, in 2020, NASA's OSIRIS-REx probe collected samples from Bennu. The probe had landed on Bennu in 2020, four years after it was launched in 2016. 

At the time Bennu had surprised scientists. Upon its brief contact with the asteroid, the OSIRIS-REx probe sank into Bennu's surface. This revealed to scientists that much like a children's pool filled with plastic balls, the asteroid had an unexpectedly low density.

Perilous journey

The precious samples travelled some 67,000 miles (107,826 kilometres) to touch down on Earth. Osiris-Rex released its gumdrop-shaped capsule as the mother-ship passed our planet.

As per AFP, the final 13 minutes of the descent were a fiery passage, where the capsule hurled at a speed of more than 27,000 miles an hour. During the descent, the temperatures reached up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius).

Osiris-Rex meanwhile, as per NASA, has moved on and is "on its way" for a date with another asteroid.

Tears, hope and billions of miles

Speaking at a press conference, the Osiris-Rex mission's principal investigator Dante Lauretta said they had high hopes from the sample.

She recalled how emotional the moment the capsule deployed was. 

"We heard 'main chute detected," she said, adding, "I literally broke into tears."

"That was the moment I knew we made it home... For me, the real science is just beginning."

Also read | Asteroid to make its first-ever close approach to Earth! NASA predicts

NASA has managed to collect roughly nine ounces (250 grams) of dust samples from Bennu's surface. This is by far the largest asteroid sample collected. 

Previously, in 2020, Japan's Hayabusa-2 mission collected a five-gram specimen from an asteroid called Ryugu. Ten years before that, in 2010, Japan had brought back a tiny sample from asteroid Itokawa.

Japan had shared a few grains from Ryugu with NASA. The samples, as per Reuters, were found to contain two organic compounds, supporting the hypothesis that celestial objects such as comets, asteroids and meteorites that bombarded early Earth seeded the young planet with the primordial ingredients for life.

How will the sample be used?

As per AFP, the sample will travel to Johnson Space Center in Houston for additional study. NASA is expected to release initial results at a news conference on October 11.

The space agency will use roughly one-fourth of the asteroid sample immediately to conduct experiments. It will also share small amounts of the asteroid dust with mission partners Japan and Canada.

However, NASA will save most of it for future generations. It will be, as Lori Glaze, director of NASA's Planetary Sciences division, puts it, a "treasure for scientific analysis for years and years and years to come, to our kids and grandkids and people that haven't even been born yet."

(With inputs from agencies)

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