NASA OSIRIS-REx Mission Touchdown: Asteroid Bennu is Loose, Spacecraft Almost Sunk!

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission reached its destination now, and it touched down on Asteroid Bennu for its task to create more asteroid samples and give the world a study of the origins of the universe. However, it was a tricky landing for the OSIRIS-REx as its surface is like a "plastic ball pit" that nearly sunk the spacecraft on its loose ground.

NASA OSIRIS-REx: Touchdown on Asteroid Bennu's Loose Surface

NASA said that the Asteroid Bennu mission by the OSIRIS-REx is a success, and it already arrived at its location to land the spacecraft there and begin its data-gathering process that will help the agency. OSIRIS-REx, however, did not have an easy time in its landing. The spacecraft had to fire its thrusters upon touchdown to lift it from the ground again.

That is because the asteroid's surface is unexpectedly loose and it may sink the spacecraft more if it decided to stay at its landing location. NASA said that it was like falling into a plastic ball pit, something which is mostly seen at children's parties or amusement parks.

The loose surface prevented its spacecraft from properly dropping in, with NASA maneuvering it to a new location that it already landed on for the time being.

NASA OSIRIS-REx Mission to Return in a Few Years

NASA last went to the Asteroid Bennu in October 2020 where it collected samples on its surface, being a TAG venture from the company. TAG means "touch-and-go," and its mission before is only a quick scoop of Bennu's content before it flew again and back home.

However, this is not the same thing now, as the OSIRIS-REx mission is to stay for long as it collects samples from its new haven.

NASA and Asteroid Bennu

NASA is putting a great deal of focus on Asteroid Bennu as it brings a significant improvement and information for the many theories and questions of researchers here on Earth. There is an answer that lies with Bennu that researchers believe in, and one of it is an answer to future potential impacts that would hit the planet, courtesy of other asteroids.

Bennu is also a potential space object that may hit the Earth in the coming years, but this is farther than what people imagine, and it is something that they may not experience now. As per TechTimes's previous report, it has a 1 in 1,750 chance of hitting the planet by the year 2300, and a 1 in 2,700 chance at the exact date of September 24, 2182.

Asteroid Bennu is not that harmful now, but it may soon be in the future. Nevertheless, NASA is focusing on its study to understand more of its origins and how to stop the asteroid that is on a collision course towards the planet, something that may significantly eradicate life as we know it, once it crashes to the public in hundreds of years.

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Written by Isaiah Richard