First image of OSIRIS-REx approaching with asteroid samples

2023-09-21 12:59:11

OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from 4.66 million kilometers – ESA

MADRID, 21 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –

This small central spot is the first image from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft approaching Earth with samples from the asteroid Bennu after a trip of almost three years.

On Sunday, September 24, the mission will drop its rock sample to pass through Earth’s atmosphere and land safely at a military field in Utah, before continuing to study the once quite terrifying asteroid Apophis.

Pristine material from asteroid Bennu will help shed light on the formation of our solar system 4.5 billion years agoand maybe even about how life on Earth began.

The capsule carries approximately 250 grams of rock material collected from the surface of asteroid Bennu in 2020.

OBSERVED FROM TENERIFE

Observed on 16 September by the ESA Optical Ground Station (OGS) telescope in Tenerife, OSIRIS-REx It was 4.66 million kilometers away from the earth. It travels at 23,000 kilometers per hour.

This image is a combination of 90 individual images, each with 36 second exposures. They have been combined in a way that takes into account the motion of the spacecraft, which is not traveling in a straight line, causing the seemingly stretched background stars to curve and warp, reports the ESA.

ESA’s 1-metre OGS telescope was originally built to observe space debris in orbit and test laser communication technologies, but has since expanded its horizons to conduct follow-up studies and observations of near-Earth asteroids and perform nighttime astronomical observations and even surveyed dozens of minor planets.