Did a Asteroid hit Earth? No! NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) launched a spacecraft called Osiris Rex. The mission was started September 8, 2016. The details for the mission was that Osiris Rex was launched into Earth’s orbit. From there Osiris Rex uses the force of gravity from Earth’s orbit to send itself to the Asteroid Belt. Back in October in 2020 Osiris Rex successfully got into orbit of an asteroid named Bennu. The spacecraft Osiris Rex was able to scan and project a 3d insight and video of the asteroid.
On the 20th of October 2020 Osiris Rex was able to touch down on the asteroid Bennu and successfully take samples from the huge space rock. September 24, 2023 Osiris Rex returned to Earth. The spacecraft landed in Utah. Very interesting data NASA scientists have discovered. The purpose of this mission was to discover and uncover the mysteries on how Earth or planets become the way they are now. NASA scientists found that the clay inside of Bennu has signs of water trapped inside. This discovery helps scientists explain the history on how Earth became and Earth and the mystery of life on this planet.
We got to interview students about this certain project that NASA has done with the spacecraft. “I believe that this could be a very interesting thing that can help us understand the early beginnings of Earth,” said junior Skyley Caswell. This is certainly history to understand our world but also to understand how planets are made. Scientists from NASA also believe that this can unlock the possibility of finding “exoplanets” that may have the same history as Earth and to see if it is habitable like Earth. We can now soon see how this wonderful planet of ours became its habitable self.
