This combination of 2019 and 2021 images made available by NASA shows how the local surface of Bennu changed after the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft took a sample of the asteroid on October 20, 2020. The image above, superior, was made on March 7, 2019, and the fund was taken on April 7, 2021, as part of the final observations to document the surface after the acquisition of the sample. Nightingale’s site is in the relatively clear area just above the center of the crater, visible in the center of the image above. The large dark rock in the center right measures 13 meters on its longest axis. (NASA / Goddard / University of Arizona via AP)
This combination of 2019 and 2021 images made available by NASA shows how the local surface of Bennu changed after the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft took a sample of the asteroid on October 20, 2020. The image above, superior, was made on March 7, 2019, and the fund was taken on April 7, 2021, as part of the final observations to document the surface after the acquisition of the sample. Nightingale’s site is in the relatively clear area just above the center of the crater, visible in the center of the image above. The large dark rock in the center right measures 13 meters on its longest axis. (NASA / Goddard / University of Arizona via AP)
CAPA CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) – A NASA spacecraft left a mess at an asteroid when it picked up a debris charge last year to return to Earth, new images revealed Thursday.
The Osiris-Rex spacecraft made a final flyby of the asteroid Bennu on April 7 to take photos of the disturbance left by the October sample collection.
A depression is visible where Osiris-Rex penetrated the asteroid’s surface. The stones were thrown by the pressed nitrogen gas that was fired to the ground to produce material to aspirate, and by the spacecraft’s propellant. A 1-ton boulder was thrown at about 12 meters.
The Osiris-Rex team meticulously traced the final flyover to ensure the best shots. Photographs were taken at noon to avoid shadows and better see the changes on the rocky surface of Bennu.
“These observations were not included in the original mission plan, so we were very excited to go back and document what we did,” Dathon Golish of the University of Arizona said in a statement.
Osiris-Rex will leave the vicinity of Bennu next month and head to Earth with its beautiful 1 kilo (1 kilogram) sample. It should arrive in 2023.
The carbon-rich asteroid orbiting the sun is 293 million kilometers from Earth. By studying pieces of it, scientists hope to better understand how the planets in our solar system formed and how people should react if an asteroid endangers the Earth.
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