The Earth return being haunted by the threat of an asteroid collision. Asteroid with wide of 560 meters was given name Bennu (pronounced ben-oo) derived from an Egyptian god usually depicted as a gray heron. This asteriod estimated to potentially hit the Earth in 2182. To investigate this asteroids, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will send a space probe in 2018.
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| An artist's concept of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft near asteroid 1999 RQ36. (Picture from: http://www.space.com/) |
Bennu is one of the potentially hazardous asteroids. "The chances thousandth to hit Earth in 2182," said Jason Dworkin, a project scientist at Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Facility in Greenbelt, as quoted by SPACE site, at May 3, 2013.
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| How NASA's Asteroid Sample Return Mission will work. (Picture from: http://www.space.com/) |
Threat of the asteroids that pass near the Earth that will make detailed study about the space rock will be very useful for mankind in the future. We would know what to do if Bennu or other space rocks, too close or potentially hit the Earth.
Bennu is the main target of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft mission. The mission is worth of U.S. $ 800 million (or approx Rp. 7.76 trillion) is scheduled to take off in September, 2016 and met with Bennu two years later. This mission will bring back pieces of the space rock to the Earth in 2023.
There are several reasons why researchers want to study the space rock samples. The asteroids that consists the leftover of primitive material from the solar system formation process more than 4.5 billion years ago. The asteroid allegedly helped the development of primitive life on Earth by providing water and complex carbon-rich molecules.
"Bennu samples brought back by the OSIRIS-REx will help scientists peek the origin of the solar system and life," said Dworkin. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | SPACE | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI | KORAN TEMPO 4222]
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