NASA's OSIRIS-Rex Mission: Bennu Asteroid Seems to Have Cavities, Might Be Close to Its Death

Liam E., Tech Times 08 November 2020, 11:11 pm

NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission found out more about the asteroid named Bennu. The spacecraft has been exploring the asteroid for two years now and have collected samples of rocks and dusts for research. It travelled 200-million miles to reach Bennu from Earth and touched the surface of the space rock on October 20, 2020.

During its mission, the testing device of the spacecraft send shots of nitrogen, whirling rocks and dusts that it were gathered in the sample-collection tool. However, researchers were caught off-guard when the move turned out to have yielded so much fabric that rock and dusts were propping the sample-collection instrument open, allowing valuable alien materials to spill into space.

Fortunately, reasearchers manage to stow the test losing some sample, but that wasn't the final of the stuns. Recently, College of Colorado analysts concluded, based on information Osiris-Rex has collected within the two long times it's been circling Bennu, that the space rock is likely empty.

Daniel Scheeres who is a professor from the university's Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences and led the research concluded that there are blank spaces on the center, within which could fit a number of football fields.

The asteroid Bennu spinning close to its Death

Whereas Osiris-Rex has been circling Bennu, the test has measured how much the asteroid's gravity pulled on it. By following their movements, mission directors form calculations around the quality of Bennu's gravity. At the same time, Bennu was throwing marble-sized bits of rock away from its surface.

Since gravity comes from mass, these two sets of information permitted Scheeres' group to calculate how the material is conveyed through the interior of the space rock.

Their discoveries was distributed within the diary Science Progresses on October 8. Recently, OSIRIS-REx's brief landing appear that it's distant from their expected calculations in terms of transporting from the lofting site.

The constrain of the Bennu's turning appears to be pushing its fabric outward towards the surface. A few of the most slender parts of the space rock are at its bulging equator.

"You could imagine maybe in a million years or less, the whole thing flying apart," said Daniel Scheeres according to The Business Insider.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission: Bennu Asteroid Seems to Have Cavities, Might be Close to its Death

(Photo : (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltec via Getty Images))In this handout from NASA, the giant asteroid Vesta is seen in an image taken from the NASA Dawn spacecraft about 3,200 miles above the surface July 24, 2011 in Space. The Dawn spacecraft slipped into orbit around the asteroid on July 15, and for the next year will gather pictures and information. It will then travel to the asteroid Ceres, arriving in 2015. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltec via Getty Images)

The OSIRIS-REx Collection of Samples

OSIRIS-REx expands its mechanical inspecting arm - the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) - from its collapsed capacity position out to the test collection position. This setup moreover places the spacecraft's center of gravity specifically over the TAGSAM collector head, which is the portion of the shuttle that will contact Bennu's surface amid the test collection occasion. The spacecraft's two sun based boards at that point move into a "Y-wing" arrangement over the spacecraft's body, which positions them securely up and absent from the asteroid's surface amid touch down.

The spacecraft is equipped with collecting at least 60 grams or 2 oz. of Bennu's surface materials to be delivered back to Earth. It is the largest sample collection since the Apollo program - and the mission created two strategies to confirm that this test collection happened as reported by NASA.

(Photo : (Photo by Joel KowskyNASA via Getty Images))
In this handout photo provided by NASA, The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft on board is seen after arriving at Space Launch Complex 41 on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch on Sept. 8 from and will be the first U.S. mission to sample an asteroid, retrieve at least two ounces of surface material and return it to Earth for study. The asteroid, Bennu, may hold clues to the origin of the solar system and the source of water and organic molecules found on Earth. Photo Credit:

It is also equipped with the Natural Feature Tracking (NFT) navigation system. The spacecraft started its collection of navigation images about 90 minutes after its orbit departure. It then compares these real-time pictures to an onboard picture catalog, utilizing recognized surface highlights to make sure that it's on the correct course toward the location.