![]() The spacecraft’s visit to the asteroid reached its climax in October 2020, when OSIRIS-REx snatched a sample of Bennu to stash away. Using this data, the team behind the new research was able to improve their understanding of the location and movement of space rocks for about two and a half years. Throughout that time, the spacecraft has been constantly recording its position in relation to Earth and the asteroid. “We’ve been able to go into orbit, we’ve been able to leave orbit, and we’ve been able to get into a variety of shooting angles.” “The spacecraft’s trajectory was really amazing - I compared it to a hummingbird,” said Dante Loretta, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator and author of the new research, during the press conference. OSIRIS-REx (formally known as Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer) was launched in September 2016 and slipped into orbit around the asteroid Bennu in December 2018.Īfter arriving, the spacecraft spent nearly two and a half years studying space rocks from orbit, swooping over them, flying over them and inspecting the rock in every possible way. I think the situation has generally improved. (Image credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona) RELATED: NASA Spacecraft Leaves Asteroid Bennu to Bring Pieces to Earth READ MORE: How OSIRIS-REx Makes Those Asteroid Bennu PhotosĪn image of the asteroid Bennu produced by the OSIRIS-REx mission. NASA said that while it represents a slightly higher risk than previous estimates, it represents a small change in an already low risk. Estimates produced before OSIRIS-REx reached the space rock calculated the cumulative probability of a Bennu impact between 21 at 1 in 2,700, according to NASA. And with this incredibly detailed view of the asteroid, experts studying potential space rock impacts on Earth have been able to fine-tune their current models of Bennu’s future.Īs a result, the scientists behind the new research now say they are confident that the total probability of an asteroid impact across 2300 is just 1 in 1750. The agency’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has spent more than two years orbiting closely around the space rock. ![]() “An object Bennu’s size … would pretty much devastate things up and down the coast.” -LINDLEY JOHNSONīennu is about one-third of a mile (half a kilometer) wide, and if it were to impact Earth, it could cause serious destruction.If the prospect of an asteroid called Bennu hitting Earth for a lifetime from now keeps you up at night, NASA scientists think you can rest a bit. It’s currently almost 200 million miles away from us, but it’s expected to get within 125,000 miles in 2135 - that’s about half the distance between Earth and the moon. The Bennu asteroid : NASA discovered the Bennu asteroid in 1999. Right now, the PDCO is keeping a close eye on two particularly threatening space rocks, one of them being Bennu. If a large asteroid were to slam into Earth’s surface, though, the result could be devastating, so NASA established the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) in 2016 to detect and monitor any potentially dangerous asteroids and create a plan to prevent impacts, if possible.īennu is expected to get within 125,000 miles of Earth - about half the distance to the moon. The background: Our solar system contains more than a million asteroids, and most are tiny and highly unlikely to come anywhere near Earth.
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