An asteroid named Bennu is NASA's latest target on the launching of a rocket to space last Sept. 9 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The satellites mission is to get sample of the asteroid and return to earth hoping to answer the old-age query on how life on earth has started.
Satellite explorer OSIRIS Rex was launched at 7 p.m. equipped with robots from United Launch Alliance.
NASA's choice on Bennu is based on its size, impact threatening orbit, and primitive composition. The assumption that this asteroid will collide on earth late of the 22nd century is an additional reason for this $1 billion probe.
The theory that life on earth was brought by the collision of some heavenly bodies such as asteroids and comets is hoped to be proven.
Bennu as one of the most primitive asteroid in the solar system is carbon-rich and that amino acid which is the most important component of how life on earth has begun is included in its composition.
"You can think of these asteroids as literally prebiotic chemical factories that were producing building blocks of life 4.5 billion years ago, before Earth formed, before life started here," said NASA astro biologist Daniel Glavin.
OSIRIS Rex is assumed to reach Bennu's orbit and settle there in 2018. Starting that year, the satellite will conduct mapping and inventory of chemical and mineral composition. This activity will last for two more years and then the satellite will move closer to the asteroid's surface and will extend the robot's arm to actually get a sample.
Asteroid Bennu's composition, its proximity to planet Earth and its composition made it an ideal choice for NASA's latest mission. After collecting the samples, the probe will observe from orbit until 2021.
