Why Bennu is known as the asteroid death? – BBC World

Image copyright NASA

Image caption In September the ship will blast off the device that will study the asteroid’s surface Bennu.

Scientists know him since 1999 and fear that someday may impact with our planet.

This is the asteroid Bennu, the space agency (NASA, for its acronym in English) is available to study.

earlier NASA will launch the OSIRIS-REx probe whose mission is collect samples of surface asteroid , explained Dante Lauretta, professor of Planetary Sciences at the University of Tucson, Arizona.

OSIRIS-REx will look for organic elements that could be of great value to the scientific community.

In addition, look for answers on the overall composition and behavior of asteroid which astronomers believe could bring “immense suffering and death “Earth .

with a diameter of 500 meters, Bennu -bautizado with the name of an Egyptian mythological bird associated with death pass between Earth and the Moon around 2135, which could alter its orbit, so that will impact with Earth at the end of the century XXII .

According to NASA the chances of impact are 1 in 2,500.

Image copyright NASA

Image caption despite the ability of OSIRIS-REx to perform complex tasks, was surprisingly inexpensive and compact in design

The process

The OSIRIS-REx probe will have to survive two years before reaching the asteroid .

scientists involved in its creation, consider that you will not have trouble resisting space travel as it is the first device of its kind built without parts m obile which reduces the risk of spoiling something in the mission trip.

“We designed OVIRS to be robust and able to last a long time in space,” they explained from NASA.

Through the analysis of the infrared spectrum can detect unique aspects of minerals and other materials found on the asteroid.

This will allow scientists to pinpoint the origin of organic materials, carbonates and silicates, and levels of absorbed water on the surface of Bennu.

Image copyright NASA

Image caption the team behind this research will take into account the geological characteristics of Bennu.

A silent monster moving

Bennu travels around the sun at a speed of 101,389 kilometers per hour and can be seen every six years from Earth .

One of the most important purposes of the NASA mission is to determine how orbit Bennu may be affected by heating or cooling that sunlight during the day on its surface.

The asteroid is heated by sunlight and raise its temperature, thermal radiation emitted in different directions while rotating.

This is what is known as the effect Yarkovsky, which eventually alter your orbit .

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Understanding the process orbitacional Bennu could be prevented future dangers to Earth.

That is why, according to calculations made by the scientists involved in the OSIRIS-REx mission, Bennu A danger power planet .

Bennu Studying and understanding the processes of creating the orbits of other asteroids could help prevent and predict future threats to Earth.

Image copyright NASA

Image caption the probe OSIRIS-REx on site at Kennedy Space Center NASA, Cape Canaveral.

Other objectives

The other major objective of the mission is achieved through samples collected, study the origins of our solar system.

The NASA probe will reach the asteroid in 2018 and return with a sample of the surface of Bennu in 2023.

Bennu is particularly interesting because it is believed to contain carbon and organic material, which will probably have answers for the origin of life.

Image copyright Photoshot

Image caption the asteroid, called Bennu, will pass between the Earth and the Moon in 2135.

“always we will find challenges that know and understand when and we have in front, but after this mission can begin to plan how to prepare in advance for future risks, “said Amy Simon, technical assistant director of OVIRS.