The doomsday
asteroid which has a high probability of impacting Earth in one hundred years
time will appear to the right of the planet Mars. If it collided with our home
planet, the rock would release 80,000 times more energy than the Hiroshima
atomic bomb blast. Bennu is one of the most potentially hazardous asteroids in
close proximity to the Earth, yet it may shed light on the origins of life on
our blue planet.
Currently, it is
the subject of a NASA mission as the spacecraft Osiris-REx has moved into orbit
around it. Osiris-REx will prepare to land a collection device to return a
sample of the primordial surface to Earth for signs of organic compounds. It
was likely formed in the Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter, but now
has drifted much closer to Earth.
Because its
materials have not changed for billions of years, Bennu may contain organic
molecules similar to those that started life on Earth. OSIRIS-REx’s first orbit
marks a leap for humankind. Never before has a spacecraft from Earth circled so
close to such a small space object one with barely enough gravity to keep a
vehicle in a stable orbit.
At around 500
metres across, Bennu is the smallest object ever orbited by a spacecraft. The
OSIRIS-REx acronym comes from the spacecraft's mission paralleling the
mythology behind the Egyptian god Osiris. Osiris was believed to have spread an
understanding of agriculture throughout Egypt, hence bringing life to the
ancient world. Likewise, OSIRIS-REx seeks to return samples of organic
compounds from the asteroid's surface, similar to those that led to the origin
of life on Earth.
Osiris was also
the god of the Underworld, which mirrors the destruction that a large asteroid
impact could have.
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