NASA spacecraft OSIRIS-REx captures first images of asteroid Bennu

A NASA probe speeding through the solar system has captured its first image of the asteroid Bennu, which the space agency will try to land on in 2020.

Once that happens, the spacecraft OSIRIS-REx is designed to collect up to 4.4 pounds of ancient space rock, seal the minerals in a capsule, and blast the capsule back to Earth. If all goes as planned, the canister will drop down into the Utah desert in 2023. 

The space probe captured its first image of Bennu from 1.4 million miles away, which is pretty close as far as space distances go (this is about six times the distance between the Earth and moon). But as shown below, the asteroid is still too distant to make out any features or details. It looks like a fuzzy, spinning white dot.

Asteroid Bennu speeds through space.

In early December, the probe will begin to orbit quite close to the small asteroid, 4.5 miles (7 kilometers) from the surface. As the craft slowly circles Bennu at just 0.1 mph, NASA scientists will map its rocky surface, scouring the terrain for a suitable landing spot

Why is NASA visiting this small asteroid?

Compared to many of the 780,000 known asteroids in our solar system, Bennu is pretty small. But it’s quite interesting. 

For one, Bennu might contain valuable resources that can be used for future deep space exploration, Dante Lauretta, the OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson, said in a press call. 

A conception of the probe collecting samples from Bennu

Lauretta is interested in whether Bennu holds clay deposits, because embedded in clay is water. And water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, two necessary components for rocket fuel. 

One day, perhaps, Bennu may serve as a “fuel depot” in space, said Lauretta.

Bennu is also believed to be a well-preserved, ancient asteroid, containing cosmic fragments older than our solar system. Understanding how Bennu formed, and the mish-mash of space materials it’s made of, will likely improve astronomers’ understanding of how the solar system came to be some four billion years ago.

Bennu, at center, compared in size to other solar system asteroids

Finally, Bennu has the slight potential to travel dangerously close to Earth in 2175 and 2195. 

“Bennu is one of the ones we are watching,” said Lauretta, noting that it has a 1 in 2,700 chance of coming too close for comfort. 

Knowing what Bennu is composed of gives NASA better information about how to potentially deflect the large space rock, should it ever veer toward our humble blue planet.