NASA completes last test before asteroid sample is dropped to Earth

NASA completed the last major test before the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft drops a sample from the asteroid Bennu to Earth on September 24.

A training model of the sample return capsule can be seen here. (NASA/Keegan Barber)

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The American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced Thursday that it has completed the last major test before the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft drops a capsule containing samples of the asteroid Bennu to Earth.

Teams from the space agency dropped a mockup of the sample capsule from an aircraft this week. It landed at the drop zone at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range in the desert outside Salt Lake City.

“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. 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,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, in a press statement.

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The actual capsule is carrying an estimated 250 grams of rocky material that was collected from the surface of the asteroid Bennu in 2020. Studying this sample will help researchers understand how our planet and the solar system formed. It could also inform them about the origin of organic materials that may have started life on Earth.

The capsule is scheduled to enter Earth’s atmosphere at 8.12 PM IST on September 24, travelling at a speed of more than 44,000 kilometres per hour.

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft itself will not land on Earth. Rather, it will “drop” a capsule containing the sample. To accurately make the “parcel drop” to our planet, the sample capsule will have to enter our planet at a precise speed and direction.

According to Mike Moreau, OSIRIS-REx deputy project manager at NASA, if the capsule is angled too high during the drop, it will skip off the atmosphere. It’s more like a rock skipping across a river, except the “rock” in this situation would end up in outer space. On the flip side, if it is angled too low, it will burn up in our planet’s atmosphere.

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