Watch NASA arrive at the asteroid on a potential collision course with Earth

After the happy triumph and terror InSight landing on Mars last week, you might think that NASA has won a break.

But no – there is a lot from the space there and Someone & # 39; a must do more history to explore.

Just like InSight Landing, NASA will provide a live feed of its first ever Asteroid Sample Return Mission to 101955 Bennu, as we are in 2018 and we all need to see NASA scientists swapping jubilant handshakes on the site. a successful mission.

The origins of NASA, spectral interpretation, resource identification, the Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) will contact Bennu at 12pm. EST, December 3, and NASA suggests going directly to its live site to follow. If you prefer social media to monitor your space, Facebook also covers you, just like YouTube.

The OSIRIS-REx journey chasing asteroids started in September 2016 and three years later, it is finally close enough to associate the space. The spacecraft is equipped with five instruments and will examine the asteroid for nearly a year before choosing a site to retrieve a sample. OSIRIS-REx will not reach the asteroid, as Hayabusa 2 from Japan made earlier this year, opting instead for a leaf-blower-type instrument on the surface to project dust particles into the robotic arm of the device. Gnarly.

On December 3, OSIRIS-REx will begin operations around the asteroid passing over its North Pole, South Pole and Equator, just 8 km away. This will allow the spacecraft to determine its mass, rotational speed and generate a model of the asteroid.

The $ 800 million mission will not be completed until 2023, when OSIRIS-REx is expected to return to Earth with Bennu's dust on board. By taking a layer of Bennu's rocky skin, astronomers could discover the beginning of life on Earth, the types of compounds present at Bennu and the formation of our own solar system.

There is also the fact that Bennu has a chance (very tiny) to collide with Earth sometime after 2175 – so it would be nice to get ready, thank you.

If OSIRIS-REx fulfills its objectives, this will be another opportunity to celebrate the flow of diffusion, but at this point, we could all have retinal implants allowing us to be at NASA, in augmented reality, allows us to dance digitally with our favorite astronomers as if we were really there.

Well, space robot.

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