{"id":55740,"date":"2023-10-11T11:33:52","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T11:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample"},"modified":"2023-10-11T11:50:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T11:50:53","slug":"surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample","title":{"rendered":"Surprise Discovery Unveils Abundance of Asteroid Clues in Bennu Sample"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Considered a small asteroid, Bennu is on a trajectory that puts it passing Earth about every six years, a feat that made it the target of NASA&#8217;s OSIRIS-REx mission. It&#8217;s believed Bennu&#8217;s current composition was already established during the same time that our solar system came into its present formation.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists cracking open the canister holding samples from the Bennu asteroid were recently in for a surprise of cosmic proportions after it was determined the container held an abundance of dark, fine-grained material.<\/p>\n<p>The discovery was made on September 26, when officials found that more than expected samples had adhered to the inside of the container&#8217;s lid and base.<\/p>\n<p>The touchdown of the Bennu sample in the Utah desert on September 24 marked the successful conclusion of NASA&#8217;s seven-year OSIRIS-REx mission, which covered a staggering distance of 3.86 billion miles, traveling to Bennu, collecting a sample, and returning to Earth.<\/p>\n<p>With the sample now securely stored at NASA&#8217;s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, ready for meticulous analysis, authorities are looking to make additional discoveries about the formation of the solar system.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, studying asteroids like Bennu is vital as they can pose a threat to Earth. Understanding their composition and orbits is crucial for developing strategies to deflect any space rocks that might be on a collision course with our planet.<\/p>\n<p>The mission&#8217;s original plan was to collect a small sample, but it gathered so much material during its touch-and-go maneuver on Bennu&#8217;s surface in October 2020 that particles were seen drifting off into space before the head was sealed in the canister. Now, scientists are presented with the &#8220;best problem&#8221; \u2013 an abundance of material to study.<\/p>\n<p>The actual asteroid sample will remain under wraps until October 11, when NASA will reveal it in a live broadcast. The TAGSAM head (Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism) will be carefully disassembled to unveil the precious cargo inside. Simultaneously, an initial analysis of the material taken from outside the TAGSAM head is already underway.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The very best \u2018problem\u2019 to have is that there is so much material, it\u2019s taking longer than we expected to collect it. There\u2019s a lot of abundant material outside the TAGSAM head that\u2019s interesting in its own right. It\u2019s really spectacular to have all that material there,&#8221; said Christopher Snead, deputy OSIRIS-REx curation lead, in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers are eager to dissect this treasure trove of extraterrestrial material. The intend to utilize advanced techniques, such as scanning electron microscopes, X-rays, and infrared instruments, to examine the sample&#8217;s chemical composition, detect hydrated minerals, organic particles, and identify specific minerals present on the asteroid.<\/p>\n<p>While the scientific community eagerly anticipates the revelations from the Bennu sample, the spacecraft responsible for this historic mission, now known as OSIRIS-APEX, is en route to study another near-Earth asteroid, Apophis. This asteroid will come close enough to Earth in 2029 to be visible to the naked eye, promising even more exciting insights into our celestial neighbors.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\">Namibia<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. Considered a small asteroid, Bennu is on a trajectory that puts it passing Earth about every six years, a feat that made it the target of NASA&#8217;s OSIRIS-REx mission. It&#8217;s believed Bennu&#8217;s current composition was already established during the same time that our solar system came into its present formation. Scientists cracking [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":55739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-55740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Surprise Discovery Unveils Abundance of Asteroid Clues in Bennu Sample - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Considered a small asteroid, Bennu is on a trajectory that puts it passing Earth about every six years, a feat that made ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Surprise Discovery Unveils Abundance of Asteroid Clues in Bennu Sample\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Considered a small asteroid, Bennu is on a trajectory that puts it passing Earth about every six years, a feat that made ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-11T11:33:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-11T11:50:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/10\/sm_1697012381.929622.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1079\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Surprise Discovery Unveils Abundance of Asteroid Clues in Bennu Sample\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-11T11:33:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-11T11:50:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample\"},\"wordCount\":520,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/10\/sm_1697012381.929622.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample\",\"name\":\"Surprise Discovery Unveils Abundance of Asteroid Clues in Bennu Sample - Namibia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/10\/sm_1697012381.929622.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-11T11:33:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-11T11:50:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Considered a small asteroid, Bennu is on a trajectory that puts it passing Earth about every six years, a feat that made ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/10\/sm_1697012381.929622.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/10\/sm_1697012381.929622.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1079,\"caption\":\"Surprise Discovery Unveils Abundance of Asteroid Clues in Bennu Sample\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Surprise Discovery Unveils Abundance of Asteroid Clues in Bennu Sample\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\",\"name\":\"Namibia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Surprise Discovery Unveils Abundance of Asteroid Clues in Bennu Sample - Namibia","description":"Considered a small asteroid, Bennu is on a trajectory that puts it passing Earth about every six years, a feat that made ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Surprise Discovery Unveils Abundance of Asteroid Clues in Bennu Sample","og_description":"Considered a small asteroid, Bennu is on a trajectory that puts it passing Earth about every six years, a feat that made ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample","og_site_name":"Namibia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-10-11T11:33:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-11T11:50:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1079,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/10\/sm_1697012381.929622.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Surprise Discovery Unveils Abundance of Asteroid Clues in Bennu Sample","datePublished":"2023-10-11T11:33:52+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-11T11:50:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample"},"wordCount":520,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/10\/sm_1697012381.929622.jpg","keywords":["africa press","Africa Press-Namibia","namibia"],"articleSection":["all news","miscellaneous"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample","name":"Surprise Discovery Unveils Abundance of Asteroid Clues in Bennu Sample - Namibia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/10\/sm_1697012381.929622.jpg","datePublished":"2023-10-11T11:33:52+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-11T11:50:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Considered a small asteroid, Bennu is on a trajectory that puts it passing Earth about every six years, a feat that made ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/10\/sm_1697012381.929622.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/10\/sm_1697012381.929622.jpg","width":1920,"height":1079,"caption":"Surprise Discovery Unveils Abundance of Asteroid Clues in Bennu Sample"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/surprise-discovery-unveils-abundance-of-asteroid-clues-in-bennu-sample#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Surprise Discovery Unveils Abundance of Asteroid Clues in Bennu Sample"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/","name":"Namibia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}