CURRENTLY ON AIR ⇒

feedback@radioislam.org.za

NASA Spacecraft on Two Year Journey Back to Earth After Collecting Asteroid Samples

May 11, 2021

Image: NASA/Handout via Reuters

Faizel Patel – 10/05/2021

(Twitter: @FaizelPatel143)

A NASA spacecraft, which scientists believe has collected samples from an asteroid, began its two-year journey back to Earth

Reuters report that NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is attempting to complete a mission to visit Bennu, a skyscraper-sized asteroid some 320 million km from Earth, survey the surface, collect samples and deliver them back to Earth.

Staff celebrated at the OSIRIS-REx control room in Colorado as the space vehicle pushed away from the asteroid, whose acorn-shaped body formed in the early days of our solar system.

OSIRIS-REx arrived at Bennu in 2018.

Dante Lauretta, the OSIRIS-REx mission’s principal investigator in 2018 said the spacecraft found traces of hydrogen and oxygen molecules – part of the recipe for water and thus the potential for life – embedded in the asteroid’s rocky surface.

The trip back to Earth is expected to take about two years.

NASA says samples will be distributed to research laboratories worldwide, but 75% of the samples will be preserved at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for future generations to study with technologies not yet created.

ADVERTISE HERE

Prime Spot!!!

Contact:
advertisingadmin@radioislam.co.za 

Related Articles

Sinan Ogun backs Erdogan

Sinan Ogun backs Erdogan

Annisa Essack | kzn@radioislam.org.za 24 May 2023 | 15:30 CAT 2 min read Dr Muhammet Kocak, a foreign policy analyst based in Ankara, spoke to Radio Islam International on the Turkish Election Run-Off due on Sunday, 28 May 2023. Turkish citizens living abroad have...

read more
The Africa Report with Tendai Marima

The Africa Report with Tendai Marima

Annisa Essack | kzn@radioislam.org.za 23 May 2023 | 17:00 CAT 2 min read Tendai Marima, speaking to Radio Islam International, says that the economy in Zimbabwe is turbulent due to the RTGS Dollar losing value rapidly. However, she further explained that the "black...

read more

Subscribe to our Newsletter

0 Comments