NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission plans to return a sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth in 2023 so that scientists can study pristine material left over from the early solar system. With a small chance that Bennu could impact Earth late in the 22nd century, the mission will also allow scientists to study how gravity and thermal forces can alter an asteroid’s orbit, helping them predict where Bennu will be in the future.
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Read “10 Things to Know About NASA’s Mission to Taste an Asteroid” from National Geographic News
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/ten-things-to-know-nasa-mission-asteroid-osiris-rex-bennu/
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA to Make Contact With Asteroid That Could Threaten Earth | National Geographic
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