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The probe was launched in order to bring asteroid samples to Earth in 2016.
The Pino asteroid, which measures about 500 meters across the Sun, is about the same distance as the Earth and the Sun. Scientists fear that the asteroid Pino hit the Earth at the end of the 22nd century.
"We found water-rich minerals right at the beginning of the solar system, which is exactly the specimen we went to get and bring to Earth," said Dante Loretta, a scientist in planetary science at the University of California. Arizona, Osiris Rex, lead investigator of the mission.
Asteroids are part of the remnants of the solar system, some 4.5 billion years ago.
Scientists believe that the collision of asteroids and comets with the Earth at its very beginning could have led to organic compounds and water, giving the planet the germ of life. Atomic badysis of asteroid samples could provide key evidence to support this hypothesis.
"When the vehicle will transport the samples to Earth in 2023, scientists will have a treasure of new information on the history and evolution of our solar system," said Amy Simon, scientist at Goddard Aviation Center, NASA, Maryland.
Osiris Rex will approach the Pino asteroid 1.9 km later this month to enter the asteroid 's gravity zone and badyze its topography.
From there, the craft will gradually begin to reduce its orbit around the asteroid to only two meters from its surface, then its robotic arm will be able to extract a sample of the asteroid from here July 2020.
The asteroid then begins to return to Earth and a capsule containing an asteroid sample will be launched to land in an awning in the Utah desert in September 2023.
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