{"id":45878,"date":"2023-09-24T01:53:22","date_gmt":"2023-09-23T17:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasas-asteroid-sampling-mission-is-on-course-for-landing-this-weekend\/"},"modified":"2023-09-24T01:53:22","modified_gmt":"2023-09-23T17:53:22","slug":"nasas-asteroid-sampling-mission-is-on-course-for-landing-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasas-asteroid-sampling-mission-is-on-course-for-landing-this-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s asteroid sampling mission is on course for landing this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A NASA spacecraft will complete a round-trip journey to an asteroid this weekend, returning to Earth after a seven-year voyage to bring back unspoiled rock specimens from an alien world that could yield insights into the formation of life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"\">The landing Sunday at 8:55 am local time in Utah (10:55 am EDT or 14:55 UTC) will wrap up a round-trip journey of 4.4 billion miles (7.1 billion kilometers) for NASA\u2019s robotic OSIRIS-REx mission. The return will set into motion another sequence of tightly choreographed events to secure the asteroid sample capsule, fly it halfway across the country to a NASA facility at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, then open it up to reveal the bounty inside.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe spacecraft trajectory and performance have just been spot on,\u201d said Sandra Freund, OSIRIS-REx\u2019s program manager at Lockheed Martin, the company that built and operates the spacecraft on behalf of NASA. \u201cWe have just a few remaining steps before we have Bennu samples on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dante Lauretta, the mission\u2019s principal investigator based at the University of Arizona, says he has imagined Sunday\u2019s events for nearly two decades.&nbsp;NASA picked OSIRIS-REx for development in 2011, ending a seven-year cycle of brainstorming, proposals, and reviews that began with a meeting in a Tucson bar in 2004.<\/p>\n<p>At that meeting, Lauretta and Michael Drake\u2014the mission\u2019s original lead scientist who died months after his concept won NASA support in 2011\u2014met with an engineer from Lockheed Martin and sketched out what would be required to collect and bring home pieces of an asteroid.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"ars-img-shortcode id-1970656 align-center\">\n<p>                <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1638\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/53153481706_0b8243716b_k.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/53153481706_0b8243716b_k.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/53153481706_0b8243716b_k-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/53153481706_0b8243716b_k-640x512.jpg 640w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/53153481706_0b8243716b_k-768x614.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/53153481706_0b8243716b_k-1536x1229.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/53153481706_0b8243716b_k-980x784.jpg 980w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/53153481706_0b8243716b_k-1440x1152.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/p>\n<p>                Dante Lauretta, leader of the OSIRIS-REx science team, answers a question during an August 30 press conference.<\/p>\n<p>                    Credit:<br \/>\n                                          NASA\/Keegan Barber<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>OSIRIS-REx is an acronym that stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer. That\u2019s a lot to unpack, but it\u2019s sufficient to say the mission is all about bringing asteroid material back to Earth for detailed analyses in research laboratories, which boast capabilities far beyond even the most sophisticated science instrument on a spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<p>Drake\u2019s team proposed the OSIRIS-REx mission concept to NASA\u2019s New Frontiers program in 2008, when they competed with other planetary mission proposals for agency funding. Three years later, scientists got the call that OSIRIS-REx won the competition. Lauretta took over the mission after Drake\u2019s death, shepherding OSIRIS-REx through development and its launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on September 8, 2016, then managed the two-and-a-half year science campaign when the spacecraft reached asteroid Bennu, a boulder-strewn world approximately the size of a small mountain.<\/p>\n<p>In the chaotic early history of the Solar System, soon after the Sun flashed to life 4.5 billion years ago, a disk of gas and dust around the newborn star started aggregating together\u2014first into grains of dust, then into snowflake-like particles that gradually came together to form asteroids and planets. Scientists think Bennu is a leftover relic from that era.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe biggest question, the one that drives my scientific investigations, is the origin of life. What is life? How did it originate? And why was it on Earth that it occurred?\u201d Lauretta said. \u201cWe believe that we\u2019re bringing back\u2026 maybe representatives of the seeds of life that these asteroids delivered at the beginning of our planet, that led to this amazing biosphere, biological evolution, and to us being here today to look back at that amazing history.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re literally looking at geologic materials that formed before the Earth even existed,\u201d Lauretta said. \u201cI call these the grandfather rocks, the ones that really represent our origins and where we came from.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lauretta appointed himself to be part of the team that will venture out to the remote Utah desert to greet the asteroid specimens after Sunday\u2019s landing. He and other scientists will gather soil and water samples from the desert landscape, so researchers will know if there\u2019s any contamination of the asteroid material held inside the Earth return vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to personally be out there to greet these pieces of Bennu to our home planet, welcome them to the curation facility at Johnson Space Center, and get them ready for the adventure we\u2019re about to put them on,\u201d Lauretta said.<\/p>\n<p>You can watch the return live beginning at 10 am EDT (14:00 UTC) using the video link embedded here.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Kdwyqctp908?si=VTbLAapkzHZbR7pS\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The $1 billion mission is bringing home the largest pristine sample of extraterrestrial material ever returned from beyond the Moon. The specimens are buttoned up inside an&nbsp;armored capsule that weighs about 100 pounds (46 kilograms), currently mounted to the side of a mothership about the size of an SUV.<\/p>\n<p>The sample carrier will separate from the OSIRIS-REx mothership early Sunday, then plunge through Earth\u2019s atmosphere and unfurl a parachute to slow it for landing in the remote desert southwest of Salt Lake City at the US military\u2019s Utah Test and Training Range.<\/p>\n<h2>What\u2019s coming back?<\/h2>\n<p>Scientists aren\u2019t sure of the treasure that waits inside the sample return capsule. OSIRIS-REx captured what was there when the spacecraft made a touch-and-go landing on asteroid Bennu on October 20, 2020, then fired a bottle of compressed gas into the loose gravel-like material that covers Bennu\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n<p>The burst of gas funneled rocky material into a sampling head affixed to the end of a robotic arm sticking out in front of the spacecraft. Then OSIRIS-REx backed away from Bennu. It didn\u2019t take long for scientists to realize that Bennu threw them a curveball.<\/p>\n<p>The asteroid material at the sampling site was less dense than researchers predicted\u2014about one-sixth the density of a typical rock on Earth\u2014and the touch-and-go landing launched a spray of particles around the spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>Lauretta compared the dynamics of the sampling run as akin to dropping yourself into a ball pit at a children\u2019s playground. \u201cIt literally is a droplet made out of rock, gravel, and boulders that are barely held together by their own microgravity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<p>So much material went into the sampling system that its lid was wedged open, and smaller pieces of rock started floating out.<\/p>\n<p>That prompted ground teams to accelerate their plan to seal the sampling system inside the return capsule, ensuring no more specimens were lost to space. The capsule is designed like a nesting doll, with a carbon-based ablative heat shield on the outside to protect it from the scorching temperatures of re-entry back into Earth\u2019s atmosphere. Inside the heat shield is the sample canister itself, which envelops the overfilled sampling head detached from the end of the OSIRIS-REx robot arm.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"ars-img-shortcode id-1970652 align-center\">\n<p>                <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"786\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/osirisrex_src.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/osirisrex_src.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/osirisrex_src-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/osirisrex_src-640x335.jpg 640w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/osirisrex_src-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/osirisrex_src-980x514.jpg 980w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/osirisrex_src-1440x755.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\"><\/p>\n<p>                The OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule measures about 32 inches (81 centimeters) across.<\/p>\n<p>                    Credit:<br \/>\n                                          Lockheed Martin<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Ground teams estimate they retrieved about 250 grams of material, probably enough to fill about one cup, depending on the exact density of the rocks. That is four times the required sample mass. Scientists won\u2019t know the precise mass of the asteroid sample until they transport the canister to a dedicated laboratory in Houston and open it up next week.<\/p>\n<p>Bennu is classified as a near-Earth asteroid because its orbit around the Sun regularly brings it close to our planet. That made Bennu an attractive target because it\u2019s part of the population of asteroids that could threaten Earth, and one that was relatively easy for OSIRIS-REx to reach, in terms of the amount of energy needed to get there and get back home.<\/p>\n<p>This asteroid had another characteristic that attracted scientists: It is a carbon-rich world. Telescopic observations showed it might be made up of organic molecules. Asteroids like Bennu could have delivered these building blocks of life to Earth. Lauretta hopes that\u2019s what is inside the sample return capsule on OSIRIS-REx. He\u2019ll soon know for sure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the key objectives of OSIRIS-REx is to characterize any organic molecules that may have been delivered to the early Earth by these carbon-rich bodies,\u201d Lauretta said. \u201cWe expect that we\u2019ll find what we call monomers, or very simple molecules, for example, amino acids, which many people may be familiar with, because they make up our proteins. If you take protein supplements, you can often see the list of amino acids that are included in that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of the precise composition of the Bennu sample, the material is almost certainly primitive and similar to charcoal in color, appearing much as it did soon after the formation of the Solar System.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat would be really exciting is if we saw any evidence that those amino acids had started to link together to form a chain, which we call peptides,\u201d he said. \u201cThat would give us some indication that towards the origin of life, protein evolution may have occurred. I want to say that\u2019s a hope. It\u2019s probably a long shot, but it would be a spectacular science result if we were to discover something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"ars-img-shortcode id-1970638 align-center\">\n<p>                <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"985\" height=\"492\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/resized.gif\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<p>                This series of images shows the sampling head on the end of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft\u2019s robotic arm, shortly after the mission\u2019s touch-and-go landing. Smaller fragments were visible escaping the sampler mechanism.<\/p>\n<p>                    Credit:<br \/>\n                                          NASA<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Even if there\u2019s no immediate \u201ceureka moment\u201d from the samples, the material will be distributed to scientists around the world, with each research team analyzing the specimens in slightly different ways. Some of the sample will remain in storage so future scientists, equipped with even better instruments, can take a look at Bennu\u2019s bounty decades from now. About 4 percent of the total sample will go to Canadian scientists, who supplied one of the scientific payloads on OSIRIS-REx, and 0.5 percent will go to the Japanese space agency in recognition of the partnership on that country\u2019s Hayabusa 2 mission, which returned to Earth with a smaller sample from a different asteroid in 2020.<\/p>\n<h2>How is it coming back?<\/h2>\n<p>OSIRIS-REx is right on course for Sunday\u2019s landing. A brief firing of the spacecraft\u2019s thrusters September 17 put it on track for a bullseye landing in a 250-square-mile (650 square-kilometer) zone at the Air Force\u2019s Utah Test and Training Range. This facility is co-located with the Army\u2019s Dugway Proving Ground in the Great Salt Lake Desert.<\/p>\n<p>No more burns are needed to adjust the trajectory, according to Freund, the Lockheed Martin program manager for the mission. Early Sunday, around 4 am EDT (08:00 UTC), NASA and Lockheed Martin engineers will evaluate the status of the spacecraft for a final time before giving the green light to release the sample return capsule from the mothership, an action that can\u2019t be undone.<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<p>If there\u2019s something amiss, officials have the option to abort the sample return and wait two more years for OSIRIS-REx to again be in position to drop off its precious cargo at Earth.<\/p>\n<p>But all signs, as of Friday, point to officials giving the \u201cgo\u201d to proceed with the release of the sample carrier, which doesn\u2019t have any way to change its course after leaving the OSIRIS-REx mothership. Once the capsule is free, when it\u2019s flying about a quarter of the distance to the Moon, the mothership will fire its thrusters for a divert maneuver to steer it onto a course that will take it just above Earth\u2019s atmosphere, saving the probe from destruction for an extended mission to rendezvous with another asteroid, named Apophis, as it makes a close flyby of Earth in 2029.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"ars-img-shortcode id-1970631 align-center\">\n<p>                <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"838\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/osiris-rex-divert.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/osiris-rex-divert.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/osiris-rex-divert-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/osiris-rex-divert-640x358.jpg 640w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/osiris-rex-divert-768x429.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/osiris-rex-divert-384x216.jpg 384w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/osiris-rex-divert-980x547.jpg 980w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/osiris-rex-divert-1440x804.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\"><\/p>\n<p>                This artist\u2019s illustration shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft firing thrusters to steer away from a collision course with Earth, about 20 minutes after releasing the sample return capsule.<\/p>\n<p>                    Credit:<br \/>\n                                          NASA<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Then there\u2019s a nearly four-hour wait until the sample capsule slams into the uppermost fringes of the atmosphere at a velocity of 27,650 mph (12.3 kilometers per second). Aerodynamic resistance will cause temperatures outside the heat shield to build up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, half as hot as the surface of the Sun. At the same time, deceleration from the atmosphere will reach a whopping 32 Gs as it falls to Earth heading west to east over California, Nevada, and Utah.<\/p>\n<p>An accelerometer inside the battery-powered sample capsule will detect when it hits the atmosphere, starting a timer to send the command to deploy a drogue parachute about two minutes later. Then the 24-foot-diameter (7.3-meter) main parachute will open at an altitude of about 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) to slow the capsule to a relatively gentle touchdown speed of 10 to 11 mph (about 17 kilometers per hour).<\/p>\n<p>Several recovery helicopters dispatched from the military range will hover over the capsule to make sure it is safe to approach. Then Lockheed Martin technicians will secure the craft, wrap it in Teflon bags, and put it into a safety net suspended beneath one of the helicopters to carry it to a nearby clean room facility. At that location, experts will remove the capsule\u2019s aerodynamic shell\u2014it could be caked in mud due to recent rains at the Utah landing site\u2014and put the sample canister under a flow of nitrogen gas to ensure it remains free of terrestrial contaminants.<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a timetable of Sunday\u2019s events:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022&nbsp;<strong>6:42 am EDT (10:42 UTC):&nbsp;<\/strong>OSIRIS-REx releases the sample return capsule<\/p>\n<p>\u2022&nbsp;<strong>7:02 am EDT (11:02 UTC):&nbsp;<\/strong>OSIRIS-REx spacecraft performs divert maneuver to continue with extended mission<\/p>\n<p>\u2022&nbsp;<strong>10:42 am EDT (14:42 UTC):&nbsp;<\/strong>Sample return capsule enters Earth\u2019s atmosphere<\/p>\n<p>\u2022&nbsp;<strong>10:43 am EDT (14:43 UTC):&nbsp;<\/strong>Peak heating of more than 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit<\/p>\n<p>\u2022&nbsp;<strong>10:44 am EDT (14:44 UTC):&nbsp;<\/strong>Drogue parachute deploys at 102,300 feet (31.2 kilometers) above the surface<\/p>\n<p>\u2022&nbsp;<strong>10:45 am EDT (14:45 UTC):&nbsp;<\/strong>OSIRIS-REx mothership soars 484 miles (779 kilometers) above Earth<\/p>\n<p>\u2022&nbsp;<strong>10:50 am EDT (14:50 UTC):&nbsp;<\/strong>Main parachute deploys at 5,050 feet (1,539 meters) above the surface<\/p>\n<p>\u2022&nbsp;<strong>10:55 am EDT (14:55 UTC):&nbsp;<\/strong>Sample return capsule lands in Utah<\/p>\n<p>The animation below, produced by NASA, gives an idea of what to expect during Sunday\u2019s asteroid sample return.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ltvpW3ur4nc?si=IlgjjsSIu257hYth\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Once it is safely on Earth, the OSIRIS-REx ground team will prepare the canister for a plane ride on a US military cargo aircraft from Utah to Houston as soon as Monday. After it arrives inside a specially built super-clean curation facility at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center, scientists will open the lid and finally get their hands on pieces of Bennu, probably sometime next week.<\/p>\n<p>Getting their hands on the asteroid material is a figure of speech, of course. The scientists in Houston will wear clean-room gowns and will only work with the asteroid samples through a glovebox. They will meticulously catalogue and sort the asteroid pebbles to be sent to more than 200 researchers around the world, who will examine the specimens and start writing peer-reviewed science papers to be published over the next few months.<\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s a team in Houston who will get the first crack at analyzing what\u2019s inside. Mission officials believe there\u2019s likely some dust or loose material that could be accessible right after opening the lid\u2014perhaps the stuff seen leaking out of the sampling unit back in October 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny dust that\u2019s visible as soon we open up the canister, which might be as early as September 26, there\u2019s going to be a sample wipe taken, and that material is immediately being delivered to a quick look analysis team ready at Johnson Space Center,\u201d Lauretta said.<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<figure class=\"ars-img-shortcode id-1970651 align-center\">\n<p>                <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1366\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Chute_capsule-2048x1366-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Chute_capsule-2048x1366-1.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Chute_capsule-2048x1366-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Chute_capsule-2048x1366-1-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Chute_capsule-2048x1366-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Chute_capsule-2048x1366-1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Chute_capsule-2048x1366-1-980x654.jpg 980w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Chute_capsule-2048x1366-1-1440x960.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/p>\n<p>                A training model of the sample return capsule is seen during a drop test in preparation for the retrieval of the sample-return capsule from NASA\u2019s OSIRIS-REx mission.<\/p>\n<p>                    Credit:<br \/>\n                                          NASA\/Keegan Barber<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Something could go wrong during any of these steps. The parachute deployment sequence is one moment where Lauretta said he\u2019ll feel some tension.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs soon as I see that parachute unfurl, I\u2019ll know we\u2019ve made it,\u201d he said. \u201cAt that point, I think it\u2019s all downhill from there. Everything we\u2019ve rehearsed, getting it out of the field, getting it to the clean room, getting it on the airplane, getting it into the curation lab. At that point, it\u2019s just fun and games, and sample science.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The sample capsule on OSIRIS-REx is nearly identical to the one used on NASA\u2019s Stardust mission, which successfully returned to Earth in 2006 with dust samples from the coma of a comet. But another NASA sample return mission, named Genesis, cratered when it came back to Earth in 2004 with particles from the solar wind. Its parachutes never deployed, and the capsule ruptured when it impacted the Utah desert. After painstaking effort, scientists were able to salvage some science from the mission.<\/p>\n<p>One more potential snag is also on the horizon. The federal government could enter a shutdown if Congress does not pass a new budget and President Biden doesn\u2019t sign it by midnight on October 1. With the intense political wrangling in Washington, this appears increasingly likely.<\/p>\n<p>In the event of a government shutdown next month, some of the steps needed to prepare the asteroid sample for analysis will \u201cpossibly be delayed,\u201d said Lori Glaze, head of NASA\u2019s planetary science division.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will make sure, first and foremost, that this sample is safe and not at risk,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have time for that after it returns to Johnson Space Center on September 25. The sample has waited for more than 4 billion years for humans to study it, and if it takes us a little longer, I think we\u2019ll be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A NASA spacecraft will complete a round-trip journey to an asteroid this weekend, returning to Earth after a seven-year voyage to bring back unspoiled rock specimens from an alien world that could yield insights into the formation of life. The landing Sunday at 8:55 am local time in Utah (10:55 am EDT or 14:55 UTC) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4365,1526,472,190,1527,1561,1528,1563],"class_list":["post-45878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-asteroid","tag-bennu","tag-lockheed-martin","tag-nasa","tag-osiris-rex","tag-planetary-science","tag-sample-return","tag-solar-system"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45878"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}