The Smithsonian national museum of natural history in Washington DC is set to unveil a fragment of the asteroid Bennu to the public next week. According to Space.com, the rare carbon-rich rock sample, collected by Nasa’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, will make its debut on Friday, November 3 at the museum’s meteorite gallery, which is part of the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals.
Expressing his pride in partnering with Nasa to showcase this monumental space rock sample, Kirk Johnson, the director of the national museum of natural history said, “With the help of our partners at Nasa, we are proud to put one of these momentous samples on display to the public for the first time,”
This exhibit is part of a series of displays, with other samples from Bennu soon to be exhibited at the University of Arizona’s Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum in Tucson and at Space Center Houston, located next to Nasa’s Johnson Space Center in Texas. Although exact opening dates for these exhibits have yet to be announced, they could potentially be open to the public as early as November 15.
The Smithsonian’s presentation comes shortly after Nasa’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft completed its mission, landing the sample return capsule safely at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range on September 24. This marked the conclusion of a seven-year round trip to Bennu and marked NASA’s first-ever asteroid sample mission, following Japan’s collection of samples from two asteroids in 2010 and 2020.
Space.com reported that the Smithsonian not only received a sample for display but also another piece of Bennu for further study. These rocks are believed to date back over 4.5 billion years to the formation of our solar system. Early observations of Bennu through telescopes indicated that it is unlike most asteroids, being carbon-rich and potentially containing organic molecules that played a role in the formation of life on Earth.
Nasa scientists at the Johnson Space Center have already found essential elements, such as carbon and water-rich minerals, in the tiny rocks that were deposited outside of the main sample container. These samples, though smaller than a grain of rice, could shed light on how water-containing asteroids bombarded Earth, contributing to the formation of the planet’s first oceans.
Tim McCoy, the national museum of natural history’s curator of meteorites, emphasized the potential significance of these Bennu samples, as they were returned to Earth without exposure to our water-rich atmosphere or life, offering insights into the pre-life conditions on our unique planet. “This exhibit is our first chance to share this incredible journey,” said McCoy.
Explaining the rationale behind the selection, Francis McCubbin, the astromaterials curator at Johnson Space Center said, “We don’t want to take anything that is going to have the most scientific value, so we are looking for things that we have more than one of. Usually we want at least four of any type of thing before we start using it for something else, and those are the samples that are going to go to the museums.” The public will soon have a unique opportunity to view these extraordinary samples, added McCubbin.
In addition to the fragment of Bennu, the national museum of natural history’s exhibit will feature the sample inside a nitrogen-filled capsule with a glass viewing pane. Visitors will also have the opportunity to view scale models of the OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft, on loan from Lockheed Martin, and the Atlas V 411 rocket that carried the spacecraft into space. The display will be complemented by a video featuring interviews and imagery from the OSIRIS-REx mission.
Expressing his pride in partnering with Nasa to showcase this monumental space rock sample, Kirk Johnson, the director of the national museum of natural history said, “With the help of our partners at Nasa, we are proud to put one of these momentous samples on display to the public for the first time,”
This exhibit is part of a series of displays, with other samples from Bennu soon to be exhibited at the University of Arizona’s Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum in Tucson and at Space Center Houston, located next to Nasa’s Johnson Space Center in Texas. Although exact opening dates for these exhibits have yet to be announced, they could potentially be open to the public as early as November 15.
The Smithsonian’s presentation comes shortly after Nasa’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft completed its mission, landing the sample return capsule safely at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range on September 24. This marked the conclusion of a seven-year round trip to Bennu and marked NASA’s first-ever asteroid sample mission, following Japan’s collection of samples from two asteroids in 2010 and 2020.
Space.com reported that the Smithsonian not only received a sample for display but also another piece of Bennu for further study. These rocks are believed to date back over 4.5 billion years to the formation of our solar system. Early observations of Bennu through telescopes indicated that it is unlike most asteroids, being carbon-rich and potentially containing organic molecules that played a role in the formation of life on Earth.
Nasa scientists at the Johnson Space Center have already found essential elements, such as carbon and water-rich minerals, in the tiny rocks that were deposited outside of the main sample container. These samples, though smaller than a grain of rice, could shed light on how water-containing asteroids bombarded Earth, contributing to the formation of the planet’s first oceans.
Tim McCoy, the national museum of natural history’s curator of meteorites, emphasized the potential significance of these Bennu samples, as they were returned to Earth without exposure to our water-rich atmosphere or life, offering insights into the pre-life conditions on our unique planet. “This exhibit is our first chance to share this incredible journey,” said McCoy.
Explaining the rationale behind the selection, Francis McCubbin, the astromaterials curator at Johnson Space Center said, “We don’t want to take anything that is going to have the most scientific value, so we are looking for things that we have more than one of. Usually we want at least four of any type of thing before we start using it for something else, and those are the samples that are going to go to the museums.” The public will soon have a unique opportunity to view these extraordinary samples, added McCubbin.
In addition to the fragment of Bennu, the national museum of natural history’s exhibit will feature the sample inside a nitrogen-filled capsule with a glass viewing pane. Visitors will also have the opportunity to view scale models of the OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft, on loan from Lockheed Martin, and the Atlas V 411 rocket that carried the spacecraft into space. The display will be complemented by a video featuring interviews and imagery from the OSIRIS-REx mission.
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