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Liputan6.com, Jakarta – After seven years in space, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx space probe returned to Earth with original samples from the asteroid Bennu. These asteroid samples will be studied in more detail by scientists in search of clues to the origins of life.

Reported Ars Technica, Monday (9/25/2023), the OSIRIS-REx mission is expected to bring back the largest sample of unexplored matter ever returned to Earth from outside the Moon. The sample brought weighs approximately 250 grams, or approximately 8 ounces.

This is the third asteroid sampling mission in history and the first for the United States. Previously, in 2010 and 2020, two Japanese spacecraft brought smaller quantities of asteroid specimens to Earth.

OSIRIS-REx took off in 2016 and began orbiting Bennu in 2018. Then, in 2020, this spacecraft collected asteroid samples and returned to Earth in May 2021, as cited by CNN.

At the end of its 4 billion mile space journey, the parent spacecraft OSIRIS-REx released a 32-inch-wide (81 centimeters) sample return capsule Sunday morning as it hurtled toward Earth.

More than four hours later, the capsule landed on Range of tests and training US Air Force southwest of Salt Lake City at 8:52 a.m. local time (10:52 a.m. EDT or 2:52 p.m. UTC).

The capsule faced temperatures of more than 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit after hitting the atmosphere at 27,650 mph (12.3 kilometers per second).

Radar sensors and infrared tracking cameras spotted the OSIRIS-REx capsule as aerodynamic forces immediately slowed the vehicle. This is 32 times the force of Earth’s gravity before the main parachute opens at an altitude of about 20,000 feet (6,100 meters).

This main parachute slows the capsule’s descent toward the desert surface to a speed of about 10 to 11 mph (17 kilometers per hour). The capsule landed several minutes ahead of schedule.