SPACE — With exciting news coming from outer space these days, it seems like a good time to check in with local space enthusiast Chuck Fields.
Q. What’s new out in space, Chuck?
A. The OSIRIS-Rex space craft just landed on an asteroid in an attempt to gather up a sample and bring it back to earth.
Q. My only understanding of space is mostly gleaned from science fiction films. What is the difference between an asteroid and a comet?
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryA. Both asteroids and comets were formed around 4.5 billion years ago. The difference is in what they’re made of. Comets are farther out from the sun and tend to be made up of ice and rock. Asteroids are made up of metal and are closer to the sun. Any ice they might have had would be melted away.
Q. I learned from “Galaxy Quest” that flying through an asteroid field without hitting one requires tricky maneuvering. Landing on one sounds like an almost impossible task.
A. It is tricky. OSIRIS-REx’s goal was to land on the asteroid for between 5 and 10 seconds to retrieve at least 60 grams of dust and debris — about 2.1 ounces — and bring it back to earth.
Q. How big is everything we’re talking about here?
A. The asteroid is about the size of the Empire State Building. Bennu, the space craft, was originally designed to land in an area as big as 100 parking spaces but had to settle for an area the size of five parking spaces due to the extremely rock surface. It’s even trickier because the “f-space parking lot” is right next to a good-sized hill that scientists have called Mt. Doom.
Q. The spacecraft’s name is Bennu? If I was naming a spacecraft, that isn’t a name — or even a word — that would be in the forefront of my mind. Where did it come from?
A. It came from a nine-year-old boy in North Carolina. A contest was held to name it and Bennu was chosen from more than 8,000 entries. Michael Puzio thought that the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft looked like Bennu, the living symbol of the Egyptian god Osiris. Bennu means “the ascending one.”
Q. Oh, that’s perfect. We know that it takes several days to get to the moon, and even longer for a trip to Mars. How long did it take OSIRIS-REx to get to Bennu?
A. Well, Bennu is 200 million miles away. It’s been there since December 2018, but it took about two years.
Q. Wait. It’s been there all that time and it’s just now getting around to scooping up dirt? What’s it been doing all this time — besides looking for a parking place?
A. That’s about right. It’s been taking photos and mapping and measuring the surface.
Q. How come this particular asteroid was selected for this mission?
A. Several reasons. Bennu was formed 10 million years after the solar system. Bennu would have basically the same make-up as what the solar system was originally made up of.
Q. What are scientists hoping to find?
A. They want to know if it has clues to the origin of life on earth including such materials as water, gold, platinum and carbon. Asteroids may have been what supplied the earth with the building blocks of life.
Q. That implies that an asteroid hitting the earth isn’t exactly science fiction. Does this mission have that in mind?
A. There is an asteroid called Sinister that does have a one in 3,000 chance of hitting Earth in the next century. By knowing about this asteroid, we can figure out if we have the tools we need to deflect it or defend against it.
Q. Now that the space shuttles aren’t flying, it seems as if most space missions are being done by private companies. Whose mission is this?
A. The University of Arizona and several other partners reached out to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for budget allocations.
Q. How complicated is it to collect a sample from an asteroid?
A. Asteroids have virtually no gravity, so rather than land on the surface, OSIRIS-REx will actually bounce off of it. As it does that, a small canister of nitrogen gas will fire stirring up dust and debris and hopefully in the 5 to 10 seconds allotted, the arm of OSIRIS-REx can gather up enough substance to call the mission successful.
Q. What happens if they don’t get enough of a sample?
A. Scientists will have to direct the spacecraft through a difficult spin maneuver to try again.
Addendum: In the days since this interview, it’s been reported that OSIRIS-REx actually collected more than enough of a sample — so much so that scientists are trying to shake some of it loose in order to be able to bring the sample in and seal it in the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx will leave Bennu in March and return home by 2023.
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Chuck Fields is host to two podcasts: “Your Space Journey” (yourspacejourney.com) since Nov. 2019, and Online Coffee Break (onlinecoffeebreak.com) since Feb. 2017. Chuck fell in love with astronomy at a young age, venturing into the realm of astro-imaging. His astro images have been published worldwide. He also is the CEO of SpaceTech Corporation, a software & web development company which he founded in 2006. For more information on his consulting services, visit SpaceTechCorp.com.
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