The real scoop
NASA has taken a sample from an asteroid more than 200 million miles away. Mount Holyoke’s Thomas Burbine explained why that’s important.
By Keely Sexton
The NASA spacecraft sent to retrieve a sample from an asteroid more than 200 million miles away is on its three-year journey back home. The spacecraft, known as OSIRIS-REx, which stands for “Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer,” has successfully taken a sample from asteroid Bennu that will help scientists understand the origins of the solar system and our own planet.
Thomas Burbine, visiting lecturer of astronomy at , explained to Mashable the value of such an enormous undertaking in learning more about our universe.
Having a sample directly from the asteroid will tell us more than we can learn from meteorites in several important ways, he said. One major issue is that carbon-based asteroids are surprisingly fragile and have a tendency to break up in the atmosphere.
“Once the meteorite lands on Earth, it starts getting altered by the atmosphere,” he said. A sample straight from an asteroid avoids this alteration and gives scientists a direct glimpse into the components of the universe.