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Osiris-Rex: Nasa confirms return of asteroid Bennu samples
Dusty samples from the “most dangerous known rock in the Solar System” have been brought to Earth.
The American space agency Nasa landed the materials in a capsule that came down in the West Desert of Utah state. The samples had been scooped up from the surface of asteroid Bennu in 2020 by the Osiris-Rex spacecraft.
Nasa wants to learn more about the mountainous object, not least because it has an outside chance of hitting our planet in the next 300 years. But more than this, the samples are likely to provide fresh insights into the formation of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago and possibly even how life got started on our world.
There was jubilation when the Osiris-Rex team caught sight of their capsule on long-range cameras.
Touchdown on desert land belonging to the Department of Defense was confirmed at 10:52 local time (14:52 GMT), three minutes ahead of schedule.
The car-tyre-sized container had come screaming into the atmosphere over the western US at more than 12km/s (27,000mph). A heatshield and parachutes slowed its descent and dropped it gently, perfectly on to restricted ground.
“This little capsule understood the assignment,” said Tim Priser, the chief engineer at aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Martin. “It touched down like a feather.”
Cleanliness was the watchword out in the desert. When the recovery teams caught up with the capsule on the ground, their objective was to bring it back to a temporary clean room at the nearby Dugway army base as quickly as possible.
If, as researchers think, the sample contains carbon compounds that may have been involved in the creation of life then mixing the rocky material with present-day Earth chemistry has to be avoided.
“The cleanliness and preventing contamination of the spacecraft has been a really stringent requirement on the mission,” said Mike Morrow, the Osiris-Rex deputy project manager. “The best way that we can protect the sample is just to get it from the field into the clean lab that we’ve set up here in a hangar as quickly as possible and get it under a pure nitrogen gas purge. And then it’s safe.”
This was achieved just before 13:00 local time, a mere four hours after touchdown. The lab team disassembled the capsule, removing its heat-shield and back cover but leaving the sample secure inside an inner canister.
(BBC)
Business
Cabinet nod to celebrate centenary of Tea Research Institute from 9th November to 14th November 2025
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Plantation and Community Infrastructure Facilities to hold the 26th Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Tea of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the 4th Annual Meeting of the Asian Tea Alliance to commemorate the Centenary Anniversary of the Tea Research Institute in Colombo from 9th November to 14th November in 2025 and to take necessary steps in that respect.
Latest News
Cabinet green light to establish the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau of Sri Lanka (AAIBSL)
The Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports ad Civil Aviation to prepare the relevant draft bill to establish the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau of Sri Lanka (AAIBSL) in accordance with the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka Act No. 34 of 2002
As proposed in the budget speech for the year 2025, the government has decided to implement a special fixed deposit scheme for senior citizens.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the proposal submitted by the President in his office as the Minister of Finance, Plan Implementation and Economic Development to implement the proposed special fixed deposit scheme as follows:
• To implement this scheme for fixed deposits opened within the period from 01.07.2025 to 31.12.2025 by Sri Lankan citizens of age 60 years or more.
• The period of the fixed deposit is 12 months (one year) and, the maximum deposit value is rupees one million.
• Payment of the higher value from the value when a 3% of additional annual amount to the average weighted fixed deposits rate (AWFDR) or the value when a 3% addition is made to the declared fixed deposit interest rate.
• Allocation of rupees 30 billion for payment of interest relief for this whole programme
Cabinet nod to celebrate centenary of Tea Research Institute from 9th November to 14th November 2025
Cabinet green light to establish the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau of Sri Lanka (AAIBSL)
Protection of Rights of Elders Act No. 9 of 2000 to be amended
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