If I ask you to think a few names of asteroids, the first name that’s probably gonna pop up in your mind would be the “Bennu”. Yeah, one of the villainous asteroid that can be a destroyer of our home “Earth”. There is a small chance for this to hit our earth in between 2175 and 2199. According to a study, an asteroid of 500meter will hit our Earth in every 130,000 years. Unfortunately, it is expected to hit our Earth in the above mentioned time.
Bennu- Villain or Supervillain?!
You might be wondering why this horrendous object is being named as Bennu- the name of a bird in Egyptian mythology that stands for Sun, Creation, Rebirth. That is because of the big secret hidden inside this dude. Yeah, Bennu is a special guy in our solar system that could explain to us the origin of Solar System. Now another special news is coming regarding the speciality of the materials that are going to be collected from the surface of Bennu. Our superhero spacecraft OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) found that the surface of Bennu contains a good amount of Hydrated minerals and organic materials.
The entire team behind the mission is now fully excited about this good news. Because our OSIRIS-REx is going to collect those materials from the sample collecting site Nightingale, on October 20. Asteroid Bennu is likely to be formed at the time our Solar System took birth. So the minerals from Bennu will take us to the past of our Solar System and will unravel the mystery of the origin of life on Earth. A villain to Supervillain, that is our Bennu.
DNA of Asteroid Bennu
Rock samples that are going to be collected by OSIRIS-REx will have many more interesting features. I will explain that to you. But before that, have a look at the below image taken by OSIRIS-REx, a few months back.
There you can see some interesting veins on the rock. Those veins are nothing but the carbonates which are formed from the hydrothermal systems containing both water and Carbon dioxide. There are so many such veins on Bennu’s rocks. Some are few feet long and several inches in thickness. The team behind the Mission OSIRIS-REx believe that the Bennu is formed from a parent asteroid which had a hydrothermal system. OSIRIS-REx is lucky to choose a place having carbonate also. So by collecting Carbonate from the Bennu we could easily get the idea of its parent Asteroid and we could easily figure out its geography and structure. Like a DNA from the child used to trace back to generations, we will use the carbonate from Bennu to trace back to its parent asteroid.
Unforeseen Peculiarities
Suspense is not over. OSIRIS-REx also found that there are two different types of boulders on Bennu. 1st one is Bright and smooth. These Bright boulders are very strong and less porous. Due to the precipitation of carbonate minerals in the crack and pores of bright boulders, it became stronger. The 2nd type of boulder found on Bennu is Dark and rough. This one is more porous and very weak. Thereby it will not survive when falling through the Earth atmosphere. So we couldn’t find any such types of asteroid samples anywhere on Earth. So the particles that our Bennu is gonna collect will be that much special.
Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin
OSIRIS-REx was successful in mapping the gravity field of Bennu by studying the particles that are being ejected from the surface of Bennu. Initially, the team was planning to map the gravity field using the spacecraft tracking data. But fortunately, our OSIRIS-REx discovered a special activity of ejecting particle by Bennu. This helped the team in mapping the gravity field with good precision. There were some interesting facts hiding behind the data that are obtained by mapping the gravity field. The reconstructed gravitational field of Bennu revealed some secrets about the interior of Bennu. Bennu has a non-uniform interior and has a huge void at its centre. Its interior consists of regions with higher and lower density. The void at its centre could contain many football fields.
October 20 & Site Nightingale
On October 20, OSIRIS-REx will collect samples from Nightingale. Scientists are very happy and feeling very lucky to choose such a place for its sample collection. Because materials in this region didn’t undergo the space weathering. So the samples that we are gonna collect from this region will be very fresh and are very useful to give the clear picture of Bennu and our Solar System’s origin. The data from MapCam of OSIRIS-REx helped us to understand the amount and variation of space weathering that is occurring in different regions of Bennu.
Given above is an Image showing the variation of weathering process processes, such as bombardment by cosmic rays and solar wind. The red region corresponds to a low weathering region and vivid blue region represent places that have undergone weathering for an intermediate duration. These regions will become less intense blue if the weathering duration is very long. In the given image you can see the sample collecting site, Nightingale. Read more about this discovery in NASA
Science lovers all around the globe are eagerly waiting for that moment for the OSIRIS-REx to collect rock samples from Bennu. Within a few days, OSIRIS-REx will step into its most risky and crucial stage of mission. Our superhero spacecraft have practised many attempts so it is now in full confidence and well prepared. So we can hope for the best. OSIRIS-REx will be a legendary hero for future missions. We can hopefully wait for that day-October 20. Wish you good luck, dear OSIRIS-REx and a special thanks for unmasking the secrets of our supervillain asteroid in the solar system. We are impatiently waiting to celebrate your victory.
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