The probe sank as deep as 30 inches (70 cm), revealing pristine material that, unlike the asteroid's surface, was unaltered by the steady battering of cosmic rays and the solar wind, the streams of high-energy particles from the sun.įrom the measurements acquired during this repeat visit, Lauretta's team calculated that the density of the surface material was only about 31 to 44 pounds per cubic foot (500 to 700 kilograms per cubic meter), Lauretta said. The surface was soft and flowed away like a fluid." "There clearly was no resistance whatsoever. That's a surprisingly large scar scientists had expected to scoop out a bit about as wide as the sample collector itself, 12 inches (30 centimeters). After touchdown, mission scientists found a brand new 26-foot-wide (8 m) gaping hole in the surface, with displaced rubble and boulders scattered around the site. When the spacecraft first arrived at Bennu, that site, called Nightingale, sat within a 65-foot-wide (20 m) impact crater. Six months after sample collection, in April 2021, the researchers got another glimpse of the OSIRIS-REx touchdown site. The impact aftermath was so unexpected that Lauretta, lead author of one of the two studies, campaigned for the spacecraft to revisit the area to understand what happened. Housing: New rule prompts criticism borrowers with good credit are being. Tucker Carlson floats moderating alternate GOP primary debate with Trump: report ĭeSantis signs bill targeting ‘discriminatory ESG’ in Florida ![]() Thomas biographer calls report on megadonor’s tuition payments. Inside a California proposal to pay $1.2 million in reparations to Black. GOP senators question drag queens in Navy outreach effortįeinstein says Senate ‘swiftly’ confirming court nominees in her absenceĬNN’s John King mocks Republicans over ‘stunning’ Biden tip Republican lawmakers to introduce national ‘stand your ground’ bill Who will replace Tucker Carlson at Fox News? Here are some top contenders GOP megadonor covered tuition for child Clarence Thomas was raising ‘as a. Ĭhris Hayes calls CNN’s Trump town hall decision ‘hard to defend’īartiromo responds to ex-producer’s claims Prom crowning sparks divide at Ohio high school More than 50 House Republicans tear into VA secretary over debt bill claims This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.Ĭonservatives criticize liberal Supreme Court justices for ethics issues If the asteroid hit the East Coast of the U.S., i t “would pretty much devastate things up and down the coast,” Johnson added. Lindley Johnson, a planetary defense officer for NASA, predicted that if the Earth was struck by the asteroid, the amount of area destroyed would equal the asteroid’s size 100 fold, according to the AP. However, they said that based on the data from Osiris-Rex spacecraft, the chances of gravity interfering with its trajectory are slimmer now. Scientists said that the Earth’s gravity could affect Bennu’s orbit and create a collision with the planet in the next two centuries. ![]() Scientists say that Bennu will get within close proximity of the planet by 2135. “We shouldn’t be worried about it too much,” Farnocchia said, who was the lead author of the findings, which were published in the Icarus journal. The spacecraft is slated to arrive back to Earth in 2023. Scientists previously said that the odds that Bennu would strike the Earth into 2200 was 1 in 2,700, but those figures were adjusted to 1 in 1,750 into the year 2300, The Associated Press reported.įarnocchia works with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and told reporters that the Osiris-Rex spacecraft, which landed on Bennu in 2018 to collect samples, has given them a better idea of the asteroid’s future orbital path, according to the wire service. ![]() ![]() However, Davide Farnocchia stressed that Earthlings shouldn’t be too worried. A NASA scientist said Wednesday that the likelihood of the Bennu asteroid hitting Earth within the next century or two has increased.
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