NASA Completes Final Major Test for First Asteroid Sample Delivery
A mockup of NASA's OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer) sample capsule was dropped from an aircraft and landed at the drop zone at the U.S. Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range in the desert outside Salt Lake City.
This was part of the mission's final major test prior to arrival of the actual capsule on Sept. 24 with its sample of asteroid Bennu, collected in space almost three years ago.
"We are now mere weeks away from receiving a piece of solar system history on Earth, and this successful drop test ensures we're ready," said Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
"Pristine material from asteroid Bennu will help shed light on the formation of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago, and perhaps even on how life on Earth began," Fox said.
The capsule is carrying an estimated 8.8 ounces of rocky material collected from the surface of the asteroid Bennu in 2020, according to NASA.
Researchers will study the sample in the coming years to learn about how Earth and the solar system formed, as well as the origin of organics that may have led to life on Earth, according to NASA.
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