Dugway Proving Ground in Utah to Play Key Role in NASA Mission Exploring the Origins of Life
TOOELE COUNTY, Utah — Scientists have long studied how life on Earth began, but a NASA mission to capture a sample of an asteroid may unlock some answers — and Dugway Proving Ground in Utah will play a key role in this discovery.
The mission, named OSIRIS Rex, aims to capture a sample of the asteroid for further study back here on Earth. “We are looking for where the origins of life are coming from. So we are built of amino acids,” explains Richard Witherspoon, OSIRIS Rex Ground Recovery Leader. “We are also built of water and where did those amino acids and water come from? And one of the theories is that it came in from asteroids.”
After a four-year mission, NASA successfully landed on the asteroid named Benue, considered the most dangerous rock in the solar system, and collected the sample, according to Principle Investigator Dante Lauretta. The sample is now scheduled to return to Earth in September, where a capsule containing it will enter the atmosphere over California on its way to Utah.
“It will be at the Nevada-Utah border, and a drug chute will come out, then a main parachute, and it is targeted to land in the center of the Utah test and training range,” said OSIRIS Rex Deputy Project Manager Mike Moreau.
The choice to bring the capsule to Utah is due to the state’s vast open space, minimizing the risk of harm to the public or personnel on the ground. “Utah offers a huge open space where it can come in safely without harm to the public or personnel on the ground,” stated Lindsay Carl, Utah Test and Training Range Officer.
To ensure the safe recovery of the capsule, personnel at Dugway Proving Ground are currently undergoing training using an exact replica. This allows them to practice and develop the necessary procedures to handle the valuable material within the actual capsule.
Once the sample is prepared at a “clean room” located in Utah, it will be flown to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Scientists from around the country and the world will then analyze the sample to find answers regarding the solar system and the beginnings of human life.
“To know that the capsule is coming back, and we’re going to actually touch something that went to space and came back is incredible,” said Richard Witherspoon. “It’s like the anticipation you have as a child for when Christmas is coming up—times ten.”
The OSIRIS Rex mission and its recovery in Utah mark an important step forward in unraveling the mysteries surrounding the origins of life on Earth. The information gathered from the sample has the potential to reshape our understanding of the solar system and humanity’s place within it.