NASA promised to show soil samples from the asteroid Bennu
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According to NASA, on October 11, the Johnson Space Center in Houston will demonstrate the first sample of soil from the asteroid Bennu, which was successfully collected in space and delivered to Earth by an American probe.
Before the soil sample is shown, a press conference will be held at which the leadership of the US space agency and representatives of OSIRIS-REx will talk about the preliminary results of their mission.
Recall that the OSIRIS-REx probe went to the asteroid Bennu in September 2016 and entered its orbit in December 2018. The next two years were spent remotely studying the asteroid and preparing for the soil collection operation, which was successfully carried out in October 2020.
The fun begins on September 24, when a capsule with a soil sample, expected to weigh from 60 to 2100 grams, lands in Utah. At the same time, the probe itself will continue its space journey with a new mission called OSIRIS-APEX. He will have to go to the asteroid Apophis (99942), which is considered potentially dangerous for the Earth and will pass dangerously close to our planet on April 13, 2029.
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