NASA Plans To Sample Asteroids In 2016

Here is a bit more information on the mission and what they have planned:

If all goes according to plan, OSIRIS-REx will snag at least 60 grams (about 2 ounces) of asteroid material, store those celestial goodies in a sample-return capsule and rocket the specimens Earthward.

That capsule is slated to reach Earth in September 2023. Slamming into the atmosphere at 27,740 mph (44,640 km/h), the capsule will slow down and parachute into the sprawling desert terrain of the Utah Test and Training Range, a military testing and training area located in northwestern Utah and eastern Nevada.

OSIRIS-REx won’t be the first probe to return pristine asteroid material to Earth: Japan’s Hayabusa mission sent pieces of the space rock Itokawa home in 2010.

Could you imagine if they find organic material or some kind of new compound?

And below is a cool video from NASA of radar observations of asteroid JD6

thanks to space.com for the great info



3 Comments

  1. Bobby Shelton said:

    Thelast thing we need to do is bring some of those asteroids to earth, if its ment to it will on its own, who knows where its from or whats on it

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