How scientists know weโre not going to get squashed by an asteroid
How scientists know weโre not going to get squashed by an asteroidPublished: October 22, 2020, 10:12 amA NASA spacecraft called OSIRIS-REx just collected a piece of a potentially hazardous asteroid to bring a sample back to Earth. The U.S. space agency also has several other asteroid spacecraft missions in the works and is not alone in its determination to better understand asteroids in order to deflect large space rocks but also to learn from these fossils of our solar system.
UCF scientists working on NASA asteroid sample mission share experience with students
ORLANDO, Fla. โ A member of NASAโs first asteroid sample collection mission team and UCF planetary scientist is teaching a class about asteroids and comets just hours before the mission he has been working on for a decade is set to collect a sample of the asteroid Bennu. [LIVE UPDATES: Follow along as NASAโs spacecraft picks up a piece of asteroid]โI just want them to be excited,โ he said. And so this is very relevant.โCampins isnโt the only UCF faculty on the OSIRIS-REx team, Associate Prof. Kerri Donaldson Hanna also serves as a a participating scientist on the mission. A photo of the asteroid Bennu, taken by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from 85 miles away. If all goes well, the spacecraft will drop the capsule with the sample back on Earth in 2023 completing its mission to Bennu and back.
NASA spacecraft successfully โkissesโ asteroid to bring back sample to Earth
ORLANDO, Fla. โ A NASA spacecraft briefly smooched the surface of a potentially hazardous asteroid more than 200 million miles away on Tuesday successfully conducting the first U.S. asteroid sample attempt but it will be a few days before we know how much it picked up. [RECAP: History made as NASA successfully tags asteroid Bennu to collect sample]โThis mission has almost been like clockwork,โ spacecraft science team member and UCF Associate Prof. Kerri Donaldson Hanna said. Donaldson Hanna is one of two University of Central Florida faculty serving on the NASA mission, including UCF planetary scientist Humberto Campins. This Aug. 11, 2020 photo shows the sampling arm of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft during a rehearsal for an approach to the "Nightingale" sample site on the surface of the asteroid Bennu. Studying the asteroid in space up close and when the asteroid sample is dropped on Earth in 2023 will help scientists learn how to deflect a potentially hazardous asteroid like it.
RECAP: History made as NASA successfully tags asteroid Bennu to collect sample
Here is a full list of activities leading up to the asteroid โtagโ and after to learn how it went. See a recap of the events leading up to the asteroid โtagโ and for reaction from OSIRIS-REx team members after the main event. ๐ pic.twitter.com/fP7xdOEeOs โ NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) October 20, 20206:11 p.m. OSIRIS-REx โgoโ to TAG asteroid, sampling happening nowTouchdown is happening and the sampling is in progress, per NASA. โThis is history,โ an emotional Principal Investigator Dante Dante Lauretta said. โWhatever has happened has already happened,โ OSIRIS-REx Principal Investigator Dante Dante Lauretta said.
US spaceraft diving to asteroid surface for rare rubble grab
This undated image made available by NASA shows the asteroid Bennu from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. After almost two years circling the ancient asteroid, OSIRIS-REx will attempt to descend to the treacherous, boulder-packed surface and snatch a handful of rubble on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020. (NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/CSA/York/MDA via AP)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. โ A NASA spacecraft descended Tuesday toward the surface of an asteroid 200 million miles away to collect a handful of rubble for return to Earth. The Osiris-Rex spacecraft dropped out of orbit around asteroid Bennu right on time, beginning a 4 1/2-hour plunge to the rough, boulder-covered face of the ancient space rock. Bennuโs gravity was too low for the spacecraft to land โ the asteroid is just 1,670 feet (510 meters) across.