America’s space agency NASA has opened a canister containing precious dust samples from asteroid Bennu after a long wait of four years.
In 2016, a NASA team flew into space to bring samples from asteroid Bennu. These specimens are more valuable than gold and silver.
The NASA team had spent more than Rs 96 billion to bring this 750 gram sample to Earth. These samples of asteroid Bennu are said to be 4.6 billion years old.
From these samples we can find out how life began on Earth.
In a major scientific breakthrough, America’s space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has finally opened a canister containing precious dust samples from asteroid Bennu.
This achievement is the result of hard work of NASA scientists and engineers.
NASA launched OSIRIS-REx into space on September 8, 2016, which reached asteroid Bennu two years later on December 3, 2018.
After studying Bennu for two years, it approached the asteroid for study in 2020.
The spacecraft landed in the Utah desert in September 2023. NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft collected dusty samples from the surface of Bennu.
After months of careful work, the NASA team has received permission to open the container. Following the announcement, the NASA team announced on Twitter, “It’s opened!”
According to NASA, samples have been taken from asteroid Bennu. The material recovered from the spacecraft included dust and rocks up to about 0.4 inches (1 cm) in size.
According to the information, NASA’s curation team will release a list of samples of asteroid Bennu later this year.