2023-10-15 13:50:30
Professor and planetary scientist at the University of Calgary, Alan Hildebrand is part of a team of scientists who have the privilege of studying a sample of the asteroid Bennu which returned to Earth on September 24.
4.5 billion years old, the asteroid Bennu is also the largest sample of asteroids ever reported on our planet. It is considered to contain clues to how the solar system formed and how the planets evolved.
Il […] may help us understand what happened to Earth, how it formed in the later stages of its evolution, says Alan Hildebrand of the Department of Earth, Energy and Environment at the University of Calgary.
The asteroid specimen comes from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, launched in 2016.
Alan Hildebrand has been participating in this mission since 2009, as part of a team of around a hundred scientists, including five Canadians, who are studying the composition, age, resistance and thermal properties of the sample.
He was even able to witness the spacecraft’s return after the mission, going to the Nevada desert with friends to watch the craft fly over Earth on its return.
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The specimen of the asteroid Bennu (close-up in the photo) comes from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, launched in 2016.
Photo : AFP / NASA
An asteroid that explodes
Bennu is a dark specimen, a term for asteroids that can help scientists study the formation of the solar system. In addition, we do not have many meteorites from this type of asteroid, and their spectrum is a little different, underlines the Calgary planetologist.
Another aspect that makes this specimen unique has to do with how it was collected: NASA’s spacecraft spent a year mapping the asteroid. Which, according to him, allows us to better understand its origins.
When a meteorite falls to Earth, we don’t know where it came from, but in this case we will be able to establish a link between certain elements in the rock and the asteroid where they came from.
The Earth’s atmosphere can indeed contaminate asteroid samples when they hit the planet.
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The box containing Bennu’s sample will not be opened until Monday October 16.
Photo : Associated Press
Mission accomplished
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson says the OSIRIS-REx mission was perfect because what was discovered was exactly what researchers hoped for. It is the largest sample of a carbon-rich asteroid ever returned to Earth.
We’re trying to figure out who we are, what we are, where we come from and what our place is in this vastness of the Universe, he explains while addressing the crowd at the Johnson Space Center in NASA in Houston, during the Bennu presentation on Wednesday.
According to Mr. Nelson, this mission is a key element in helping NASA intercept asteroids that could threaten our planet.
This also applies to the asteroid Bennu, which could hit Earth in about 150 years, adds Alan Hildebrand.
The Albertan points out that the University of Calgary has more than 20 years of experience studying rare and delicate space rocks: We learned how to prepare small specimens and push the limits.
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The mission team is only allowed to study 25% of the sample. Pictured is a view of the exterior of the OSIRIS-REx capsule sample collector.
Photo : NASA/Erika Blumenfeld & Joseph Aebersold
4% of the sample will remain in Canada
Since part of the mission takes place in Canada, Mr. Hildebrand specifies that the country will also be able to keep 4% of the sample.
The mission team is only allowed to study 25 percent of the sample, with the remainder archived by NASA’s Johnson Space Center for later analysis to account for scientific advances and new technologies.
The box containing Bennu’s sample will not be opened until Monday, October 16. After a few weeks of taking images and discussions, Alan Hildebrand hopes to start studying the sample by November.
With information from Lily Dupuis and Julie Debeljak
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