Home Science How NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission will help protect Earth against asteroid Bennu and its flyby in 2182

How NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission will help protect Earth against asteroid Bennu and its flyby in 2182

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How NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission will help protect Earth against asteroid Bennu and its flyby in 2182

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The asteroid Bennu is a scientific gem, but a potentially dangerous one: No other space rock has a higher known probability of hitting Earth in the next 200 years. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid-sampling mission will help scientists better understand how to protect humankind if Bennu’s trajectory were ever to intersect with that of our planet. 

Bennu, discovered in 1999, is a rare B-type asteroid that is rich in carbon material believed to contain chemical compounds from the early epochs of the solar system. On top of that, its orbit makes the 1,614-foot-wide (492 meters) Bennu the most dangerous known asteroid in the solar system. 

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