NASA: Trying Best
NASA has done one of the most exciting things i.e. landing a probe on the surface of asteroid Bennu in recent memory. A bunch of samples was gobbled up by the OSIRIS-Rex which successfully touched down briefly on the asteroid’s surface that will be returned to earth for study. Some new data has now been released after orbiting the asteroid for two years that throws more light on the asteroid’s composition.
Bennu Is Hollow
Based on data captured by the spacecraft in the two years, researchers from the University of Colorado announced findings from its orbit that show the asteroid is likely hollow. Daniel Scheeres, Department of aerospace engineering sciences, said that it can hold a couple of football fields if compared to the size of the void at the centre of the asteroid.
The exterior seems to be more superior to the core of the asteroid, it appears that the life span of the asteroid is not to be considered for a long time and survival over the long-term could be in danger. The entire asteroid could fly apart in a million years or less as per the sayings of Scheeres. The scientists could create a map of sorts of the gravity of the asteroid by combining data recorded by OSIRIS-Rex blowing away the wrong assumptions that the inside was solid and rocky.
Reason of Void
The void inside the asteroid is due to the asteroid’s rotation as per the team studying the asteroid. The team also believes that the asteroid is leading its way to pieces as overtime, Bennu’s rotation is gaining speed. It is unchallenging for the entire asteroid to fall apart as it spins because the core is of low density. The team of scientists has wrapped up their work on the OSIRIS-REx mission after measurements of the gravity field of the asteroid over.
The plan to analyze samples that will be returned to earth by the spacecraft soon has been helped by the contribution of the results of their work. To determine the cohesion between grains which is a key physical property that impacts the mass distribution observed in the study is the current plan by seeing the samples analyzed.