NASA Mission to Bring Asteroid Samples to Dugway in Two Months

Summary:

• NASA's Osiris Rex mission is set to bring back asteroid samples to Earth in September.
• The samples will be collected from the asteroid Bennu, and scientists hope they contain valuable insights into life's formation on Earth.
• Utah's West Desert will be the landing site for the capsule carrying the asteroid samples, which will then be transported to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
• The successful mission aims to shed light on fundamental questions about humanity's existence and the origins of life in the universe.

In just two months, pieces of an asteroid will land in Utah's West Desert as part of a NASA mission aimed at answering some of the biggest questions about life on Earth.

New specialist Alex Cabrera was at Doug Way Proving Ground today to talk to those leading this mission. The NASA mission called Osiris Rex, launched in 2016, successfully landed a spacecraft onto asteroid Bennu in 2020, collected some rocks there, and is currently bringing that material back to Earth. The little capsule containing those rocks is expected to land at the U.S. military's Doug Way Proving Ground in Utah's West Desert in September. This will be the first time that scientists have robotically explored an asteroid, collected a sample, and brought it back to Earth. The success of the mission so far is attributed to the cameras designed by Utah State University's Space Dynamics Laboratory, which allowed scientists and engineers to see some 200 million miles away from Earth and guide the spacecraft to the asteroid, collect the material, and leave safely. Once the capsule is picked up in the desert, it will be transported by a helicopter to a clean room within a building at Doug Way. The clean room's purpose is to minimize contamination from Earth's atmosphere and the landing zone. Scientists believe the samples collected could contain organic compounds from the time our planet and solar system were created, providing significant insights into how life formed on Earth. The samples will then be taken to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston for further analysis, where scientists hope to find answers to questions that have intrigued humanity since the dawn of time.

The landing of the asteroid samples in Utah marks a crucial step in space exploration, and scientists are eager to unlock the mysteries contained within the collected rocks. The knowledge gained from this mission could reshape our understanding of life's origins on Earth and beyond.