{"id":14528,"date":"2025-05-21T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=14528"},"modified":"2025-05-16T08:14:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T08:14:33","slug":"asteroid-sample-return-missions-bennu-ryugu-scientific-insights-may-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/asteroid-sample-return-missions-bennu-ryugu-scientific-insights-may-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Why collect asteroid samples? 4 essential reads on what these tiny bits of space rock can tell\u00a0scientists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n The OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule contained rock from the asteroid Bennu.\n NASA\/Keegan Barber<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n Mary Magnuson<\/a>, The Conversation<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

China\u2019s Tianwen-2 asteroid sample return mission<\/a> is set to launch<\/a> this month, May 2025, en route to the asteroid Kamo\u02bboalewa (2016 HO3)<\/a>. The country could join the United States and Japan, whose space agencies have both successfully retrieved a sample from an asteroid to study back on Earth. <\/p>\n\n

Several space missions have flown by asteroids before<\/a> and gotten a peek at their compositions, but bringing a sample back to Earth is even more helpful for scientists. The most informative analyses require having physical samples<\/a> to poke and prod, shine light at, run through CT scanners and examine under electron microscopes. <\/p>\n\n

These missions require detailed planning and specialized spacecraft, so to shed light on why agencies go through the trouble, we compiled four stories from The Conversation U.S.\u2019s archive. These articles describe the ways asteroid sample return missions generate new scientific insights at every stage \u2013 from the collection process, to the container\u2019s return to Earth, to laboratory analyses. <\/p>\n\n

1. Ryugu\u2019s colorful history<\/h2>\n\n

The asteroid Ryugu<\/a> is made of carbon-rich rock. Japan targeted Ryugu for its sample return mission Hayabusa2<\/a> in 2020. <\/p>\n\n

\n \"A<\/a>\n
\n A sealed container that holds a piece of the Ryugu sample from Japan\u2019s Hayabusa2 mission.<\/span>\n NASA\/Robert Markowitz<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n

As planetary scientist Paul K. Byrne<\/a> from Washington University in St. Louis described in his article<\/a>, the Hayabusa2 team shot the asteroid with a metal projectile and collected the dusty debris that floated into space. This process allowed the Hayabusa2 craft to gather a sample to bring home and also get a close-up look at the asteroid\u2019s surface. <\/p>\n\n

One thing the collection team noticed<\/a>: The material that flew off the asteroid was redder than the surface they shot at, which had a bluer tinge. <\/p>\n\n

Some parts of Ryugu appear almost striped \u2013 the middle latitudes are redder, while the poles look more blue. The sample collection process gave researchers some hints about why that is. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cAt some point the asteroid must have been closer to the Sun that it is now,\u201d Byrne wrote. \u201cThat would explain the amount of reddening of the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Return capsules make shock waves<\/h2>\n\n

Similar to how researchers gained valuable data just from the Hayabusa2 collection process, atmospheric scientists didn\u2019t even need to open the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule to learn something new.<\/p>\n\n

NASA\u2019s OSIRIS-REx<\/a> mission traveled to the carbon-rich asteroid Bennu<\/a> and sent home a small capsule containing a sample in September 2023.<\/p>\n\n

Released from the OSIRIS-REx craft, the sample return capsule hurtled down to Earth in a heavy box about the size of a microwave. Aside from the fact that it had been released from a spacecraft<\/a> about 63,000 miles (102,000 kilometers) away, the return looked strikingly similar to that of a meteorite hitting Earth<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

Scientists don\u2019t often have the advance notice needed to study how real meteoroids<\/a> \u2013 the term given to meteorites before they hit the ground \u2013 behave when they enter the atmosphere, so they jumped on the opportunity to study the capsule as it returned to Earth. <\/p>\n\n

As physicists Brian Elbing<\/a> from Oklahoma State University and Elizabeth A. Silber<\/a> from Sandia National Laboratories discussed in their article<\/a>, OSIRIS-REx\u2019s reentry was the perfect opportunity to study what happens in the atmosphere when meteoroid-size objects fly through. <\/p>\n\n

The teams set up networks of sensitive microphones and other instruments \u2013 both on the ground and attached to balloons \u2013 to log the sound wave frequencies that the capsule generated in the atmosphere. Understanding how waves travel through the atmosphere can help scientists figure out how to detect hazards<\/a> such as natural disasters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Building blocks of life on Bennu<\/h2>\n\n

Once the OSIRIS-REx return capsule was safely back on Earth, researchers across the world \u2013 including geologist Timothy J. McCoy<\/a> from the Smithsonian Institution and planetary scientist Sara Russell<\/a> from the Natural History Museum in the U.K. \u2013 got to work running tests on its contents, while handling the sample carefully to avoid contaminating it. <\/p>\n\n

As they described in their article<\/a>, McCoy and Russell found the sample was mostly water-rich clay, which they expected from a carbon-rich asteroid. But they also found a surprising amount of salty and brine-related minerals. These minerals form when water evaporates off a rock\u2019s surface. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because these minerals \u2013 aptly called evaporites<\/a> \u2013 dissolve when they come into contact with moisture, scientists had never seen them in the meteorites that fly through Earth\u2019s atmosphere, even ones with similar compositions to Bennu. The spacecraft\u2019s sample container kept the Bennu sample airtight, so these evaporites stayed intact. <\/p>\n\n

These results suggest that the asteroid used to be wet and muddy. And a salty, water-rich environment like Bennu may have once been a great place for organic molecules to form<\/a>. Some scientists predict that Earth got its ingredients for life from a collision with an asteroid like Bennu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Looking ahead: Asteroid mining<\/h2>\n\n

Asteroid sample return missions generate lots of scientific insights. They can also help space agencies and companies understand what exactly is out there, available to bring home from asteroids. While carbon-rich asteroids like Bennu and Ryugu aren\u2019t flush with precious metals, other asteroids<\/a> have more valuable contents. <\/p>\n\n

Launched in 2023 and currently traveling through space, NASA\u2019s Psyche mission<\/a> will explore a metallic asteroid. The Psyche asteroid likely contains platinum, nickel, iron and possibly gold \u2013 all materials of commercial interest.<\/p>\n\n

Scientists can learn about the formation and composition of Earth\u2019s core from metallic asteroids like Psyche, which is the mission\u2019s main goal. But as planetary scientist Valerie Payr\u00e9<\/a> from the University of Iowa wrote in her article<\/a>, \u201cThe Psyche mission is a huge step in figuring out what sort of metals are out there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

For now, commercial asteroid mining operations are science fiction \u2013 not to mention legally fraught<\/a>. But some companies have started considering early-stage plans for how they one day might do it. Asteroid sample missions can lay some early groundwork. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation\u2019s archives.<\/em>\"The<\/p>\n\n

Mary Magnuson<\/a>, Associate Science Editor, The Conversation<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule contained rock from the asteroid Bennu. NASA\/Keegan Barber Mary Magnuson, The Conversation China\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":1200,"featured_media":14530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/5\/50\/The_Red_Planet_%2850144550853%29.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[10417,10420,10439,10438,10426,10423,10429,10430,10418,10434,10432,10433,10422,10419,10435,10428,4333,5711,3844,10427,10421,10425,10431,10436,10424,10437],"class_list":{"0":"post-14528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-math-and-the-sciences","8":"tag-asteroid-composition-analysis","9":"tag-asteroid-mining","10":"tag-asteroid-mission-technology","11":"tag-asteroid-orbit-changes","12":"tag-asteroid-organic-molecules","13":"tag-asteroid-sample-return","14":"tag-asteroid-surface-study","15":"tag-atmospheric-shock-waves","16":"tag-bennu-asteroid","17":"tag-carbon-rich-asteroid","18":"tag-commercial-asteroid-mining","19":"tag-evaporite-minerals","20":"tag-hayabusa2-mission","21":"tag-kamooalewa-2016-ho3","22":"tag-metallic-asteroid-psyche-mission","23":"tag-meteorite-reentry","24":"tag-origins-of-life","25":"tag-osiris-rex-mission","26":"tag-planetary-science","27":"tag-platinum-nickel-iron-gold","28":"tag-ryugu-asteroid","29":"tag-sample-return-capsule","30":"tag-space-exploration-2025","31":"tag-spacecraft-sample-collection","32":"tag-tianwen-2-mission","33":"tag-water-rich-clay-asteroid","34":"cs-entry","35":"cs-video-wrap"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14529,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14528\/revisions\/14529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}