2023-10-11 17:24:55
Seven years following the launch of the OSIRIS-Rex mission spacecraft, in which Canada is participating, NASA presented the samples of Bennu, an asteroid approximately 4.6 billion years old, brought back to Earth two weeks ago.
Initial analyzes show that these samples contain water and carbon, but might also contain organic compounds such as sugars or amino acids. These basic units of proteins and DNA are essential to all life on Earth.
“Who are we? Where do we come from? What is our place in this immensity we call the universe? This mission will allow our scientists to study the formation of our planet for generations,” said NASA Chief Administrator Bill Nelson during a press conference Wednesday in Houston.
To understand who we are, we must study the composition of the building blocks of life, he summarized.
The Canadian contribution
In the coming weeks, when the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has completed the construction of a new clean room at its headquarters in Longueuil, pieces of Bennu will be transported to the country.
ASC geologist Caroline-Emmanuelle Morisset will be responsible for preserving these samples.
She told The Canadian Press that Bennu is particularly interesting because it has remained almost unchanged since the formation of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago.
“The samples are preserved in closed containers under nitrogen, to protect them from interactions with the atmosphere,” explained the scientist.
“So they are not contaminated, unlike meteorites which may resemble Bennu, but which passed through the atmosphere and which therefore might have been contaminated by the Earth.”
It is the purity of the sample from this asteroid that makes this mission a turning point in space exploration.
Canada receives 4% of the sample, therefore between 4 and 10 grams according to Caroline-Emmanuelle Morisset’s estimates.
The Canadian scientific community will have access to pieces of asteroids in the space agency’s laboratories because Canada has invested $61 million in the mission.
A laser mapping system, created by the CSA, was integrated into the OSIRIS-Rex mission spacecraft.
The Canadian laser altimeter, which bears the name OLA (OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter), made it possible to prepare three-dimensional maps of Bennu to help the mission team select a site for sampling a sample.
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