A NASA spacecraft called OSIRIS-REx will return to Earth on Monday with a sample collected from the asteroid Bennu on board.
The spacecraft will leave orbit around Benno at 10 a.m. CET, according to NASA, the start of the return will be broadcast live on social media.
The Osiris Rex is the first US flying device to collect a sample from an asteroid. It is expected to reach Earth after its 2.3 billion km journey in September 2023.
Osiris Rex started in Cape 2016 from Cape Canaveral and reached the asteroid two years later. Since then, the probe, which is six meters long and weighs 2,100 kilograms, has been orbiting the asteroid and examining it with its scientific instruments and cameras. He also took a soil sample from its surface with his robotic arm.
Researchers say Bennu, discovered in September 1999, may have preserved the building blocks from when the solar system was formed 4.5 billion years ago, which may explain how life evolved on Earth and possibly elsewhere.
A carbon-rich celestial body, about 550 meters long, passes through the Earth every six years. Bennu is one of the most dangerous space objects on Earth. NASA experts say that 1: 2700 is the chance of an asteroid colliding with Earth at the end of the next century.
(MTI / dpa)
