One of asteroid Bennu’s biggest surprises comes from the bursts of particles it sometimes sends flying into space, where OSIRIS-REx captures sight of them. (Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin) Right now, there are two missions exploring asteroids in our solar system. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is revealing surprises at its asteroid home called Bennu. It arrived there not long after Japan’s similar Hayabusa2 sample-return mission reached asteroid Ryugu. So far, NASA’s mission is finding similarities with Ryugu, as well as big differences, scientists announced on Tuesday. Both asteroids are more rugged and rocky than anticipated. But Bennu also revealed surprising flurries of material ejected from its surface on some dozen occasions since OSIRIS-REx’s arrival. Scientists are still investigating how and why the asteroid is flinging small rocks into space.
OSIRIS-REx originally planned to have a landing zone 160 feet across (shown in white circle). But the rugged terrain means it will ...
