Gadgetory

three-two-one liftoff of osiris-rex it's seven year mission to boldly go to the asteroid Bennu and that Atlas 5 rocket is carrying NASA's latest spacecraft the osiris-rex the probe is on a mission to reach a near-earth asteroid once it gets there osiris-rex will grab a sample from the space rock and bring it back to earth and what's in that sample could tell us a lot about the early solar system and maybe how life formed here on our own planet that's because asteroids are considered tiny snapshots of the primitive solar system most of the planets and moons have undergone a lot of geological activity since they first formed 4.5 billion years ago asteroids even here they haven't changed all that much since then so they still contain some of the same chemical makeup of the solar system when it first got started studying those chemicals can tell us that the building blocks for life like organic molecules and amino acids were present from the very beginning or if they just showed up later on to figure this out NASA is targeting an asteroid named Venu but what makes this space rock so special well it's a little bit like Goldilocks everything about it is just right for one it's in an ideal location to make good time NASA wanted an asteroid traveling on their earth-like orbit between 1.68 use and point 8a use it's also a good size for getting a sample an asteroid that's too small can spin pretty fast causing any loose particles on its surface to shoot out into space then he's big enough so that it's spin isn't totally out of control and finally it's made up of the right stuff NASA researchers wanted an asteroid rich in carbon those kinds of asteroids are thought to be the most ancient and unchanged since the early days of the solar system that means it's samples could contain the early molecules that led to earth life sampling venue may be the main priority but osiris-rex will also help us better understand if asteroids are going to hit us in the future during its mission osiris-rex will study something known as the Yarkovsky effect it's a way that the Sun can manipulate the course of an asteroid you see the Sun emits solar radiation which can slowly change in asteroids long-term orbit over time that makes it hard for astronomers to predict exactly where an asteroid is going to be in a hundred years so when osiris-rex is at Venu it will study the sun's effect on the asteroid allowing astronomers to make better orbital models it's going to be a while before a thyristor xcs in the action though the spacecraft will cruise through space for the next two years during that time the probe will come back by earth to get a boost from our planets gravity that will put a Cyrus Rex on the right path to start approaching venue by September 2018 as it approaches the spacecraft will start mapping the surface of been new thanks to early radar observations NASA is pretty sure there is loose material on Bennie's surface but osiris-rex needs to find the right spot to scoop it up over a two-year period NASA will select 12 sites that could be good for sampling and then narrow it down to two final sites once they have the site they want the spacecraft will try to tag the asteroid in July of 2020 osiris-rex will move in close to the new and deploy the tags damn it's a tiny robotic arm with a sampler head on the end arm will touch the surface of venue and give it a whiff of nitrogen gas that will cause any loose materials to shoot up into the sampler head it's a quick process that only takes five seconds but if successful nasa helps to pick up 60 grams of material that will be the largest sample to come back from space since the Apollo missions NASA can do up to three tagged attempts in case one doesn't work out but eventually a Cyrus Rex will have to head back to earth in March of 2021 that puts the spacecraft back at Earth in September of 2023 a capsule containing the asteroid sample will fall back to our planet and land softly hopefully in the Utah desert and when scientists opened up that capsule they'll be one step closer to getting answers about how our galactic neighborhood came to be going as the master getting some samples just another day Naza yeah high abuse only got something like dust I love you iris