Set as Homepage - Add to Favorites

【Deborah Sullavan Archives】

Source：Exquisite Information Network Editor：Science Time：2025-06-26 18:32:05

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft had a mission in 2020: fly to Bennu,Deborah Sullavan Archives an asteroid about 200 million miles from earth, land briefly, collect a small sample, and return home. But its mission was thwarted, not by any Space Force situation or black hole anomaly, but by Bennu's surface, which is closer to a "plastic ball pit" than it is to a solid surface, NASA wrote in a new update.

"The spacecraft would have sunk into Bennu had it not fired its thrusters to back away immediately after it grabbed dust and rock from the asteroid’s surface," NASA wrote. "It turns out that the particles making up Bennu’s exterior are so loosely packed and lightly bound to each other that if a person were to step onto Bennu they would feel very little resistance, as if stepping into a pit of plastic balls that are popular play areas for kids."

The OSIRIS-REx tried to touch down two years ago when it sank into Bennu's surface. And now, they know why, according to two new papers published this week by the mission's researchers.

You May Also Like

"We expected the surface to be pretty rigid, kind of like if you touch down on a gravel pile: a little bit of dust flying away and a few particles jumping up," Dante Lauretta, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona and principal investigator of the OSIRIS-REx, mission told Space.com. "But as we were bringing back the images after the event, we were stunned."

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

She said the surface was "soft and flowed away like a fluid."

I have never wanted to jump into anything more in my entire life, but that probably isn't a great idea considering that it is in space and I am not an astronaut.

We also don't know a ton about these kinds of asteroids. Patrick Michel, an OSIRIS-REx scientist and director of research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique at Côte d’Azur Observatory in Nice, France told NASA that "we’re still at the beginning of understanding what these bodies are, because they behave in very counterintuitive ways." Moreover, looking back at images from the 2020 crash that left a 65-foot-wide impact crater was pretty wild, according to Lauretta.

Related Stories
  • A spacecraft on the way to sample an asteroid snapped this remarkable photo of Earth
  • NASA spacecraft finds signs of water on Bennu asteroid
  • NASA just launched a probe on a mission to sample an asteroid
  • NASA sends spacecraft to asteroid for answers about birth of our solar system
  • Spacecraft zooms by Venus and snaps a striking image

"We saw a giant wall of debris flying away from the sample side," Lauretta said, dashing my hopes of sinking into an entire asteroid-size Chuck E. Cheese attraction. "For spacecraft operators, it was really frightening."

Despite Bennu's soft and fluffy nature, Space.com writes that it is "one of the most dangerous asteroids currently known" because if it collides with earth, it would cause a "continent-wide disruption on our planet." Thankfully, NASA estimates that the collision is pretty unlikely— 1 in 2,700 between the years 2175 and 2199, to be exact. 

Previous：Trump's national security strategy omits climate change as a threat

Next：Amazon Pet Day: All the best deals

Related Articles
Related Recommendations
Categories
Latest Articles
Popular Articles
Hot Recommendations
Featured Column

Quick Links

Why the Finals aren't the most important story in the NBA this weekGoogle's new doodle goes green on World Environment DayThe 1 thing that may kill Apple's new HomePodSurprise! Apple unveils the iMac Pro, the 'most powerful Mac ever'The odd case of a Vietnamese skin clinic's runWaymo spotted testing out a selfThe Top Gun sequel has a title and it's not 'Top Gun 2'Intel study: selfVery determined man mows the grass as a tornado swirls nearbyAlphabet, Google's parent company, joins the $1,000 clubPussyhat Project cofounder launches the next big craftivism effort of the resistanceApple snuck a weed joke into its developer conference presentationKids don their best costumes to see 'Wonder Woman' in theatersPussyhat Project cofounder launches the next big craftivism effort of the resistanceThe updated MacBook has more power, but still just one USBConfetti takes down 'CounterIBM's 5Apple announces updated MacBook Pros with specs to please power usersYou can buy some very fancy Wonder Woman china to celebrate the new movieWWDC 2017: iOS 11, HomePod, and everything else you need to know Indonesia's largest fleet of taxis teams up to beat ride Trump's short Black History Month speech was mostly about himself 'Rocket League' toy line is basically the new Micro Machines Google's Waymo self New space pics show off the greatest kitten toe beans in all the universe Pornhub wants to be the hottest destination for sex ed These machines are testing human drivers’ skills with no mercy Start your engines for this possible RuPaul's Drag Race NASA experiments show how astronaut’s genes changed in space Intellivision: Gone But Not Forgotten Rejoice! Hillary Clinton is writing a book of personal essays Ever Wonder How the Shazam Algorithm Works? An NBA free agent takes his job hunt to Instagram How Facebook is trying to dominate mobile without owning your smartphone Beyoncé's pregnancy announcement will save America, at least according to Twitter Twitter launches Black History Month chatbot in celebration of black culture Reddit banned r/altright over doxing violations MIT wearable AI system helps people with Asperger's communicate You can finally control YouTube videos playing on a TV from your iPhone's lock screen Everyone stop everything: Beyoncé just announced that she's pregnant with twins

2.273s , 8226.71875 kb

Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Deborah Sullavan Archives】,Exquisite Information Network  

Sitemap

Top

Quick Links