NASA has finally revealed its interest in collecting data on Asteroid Bennu since the space rock has quite significant chances to hit Earth. The possibilities are 1:2700, but it is enough to make Bennu most likely to collide with our planet.
About Asteroid Bennu
Specialists said the life exterminating event might happen between 2175 and 2200. Yes, the collision between the vast rock and our planet might end in ending life on Earth.
Discovered in 1999, Bennu is a Carbon-rich asteroid, rock billions of years old. NASA chose it among over 7000 other asteroids close to our planet, as its age and chemical structure seem to hold secrets on how the Universe was created.
NASA says they chose to collect samples from Bennu because it has a proper orbit to return, it has a diameter bigger than 200 meters, and it is Carbon abundant. Other five asteroids matched the same profile, but they chose Bennu, and now they said why: in specific conditions, very likely to happen, Bennu will hit the blue planet.
NASA Tries To Learn More About Bennu
OSIRIS-REx is the spacecraft sent now to collect samples from Bennu. The samples are to return to Earth in 2023. And that if the space probe will be able to collect them since Bennu is not an easy target. It is very rocky, and the spacecraft has severe difficulties in making the maneuver.
Four possible sampling sites were identified on Bennu’s surface, and the chosen one is named Nightingale. After the rehearsals programmed on March 26, NASA has hopes that the 60 grams of the sample will be sent to Earth.
The collision might occur if a small push of heat will change the Asteroid Bennu’s orbit. It is called the Yarkovsky effect. It’s a space phenomenon: an asteroid or celestial body changes its orbit due to small push of heat, either from itself expelling gasses or other celestial bodies, including the Sun. And it is likely to happen to Asteroid Bennu.
