Spacewatch: Nasa's Osiris-Rex spacecraft orbits asteroid Bennu

The craft is to collect samples of material that reflect the solar system ’s earliest stagesNasa ’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft has achieved orbit around asteroid Bennu.The spacecraft eased into orbit with an eight-second burn of its thruster on 31 December at 19.43 GMT.Its mission is to survey the small asteroid and then collect a sample of the surface material to send back to Earth for analysis.Continue reading...

Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - January 10, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Stuart Clark Tags: Science Astronomy Space Nasa Source Type: news