After getting delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, NASA has finally picked out a date to research samples of the asteroid Bennu.
The space agency said that it now expects the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to begin its first attempt at sampling the asteroid on Oct.
"That spirit has led them to the cusp of the prize we all are waiting for — securing a sample of an asteroid to bring home to Earth, and I'm very excited to follow them through the home stretch.".
This is a mosaic image of asteroid Bennu, from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.
Since arriving at the asteroid in December 2018, OSIRIS-REx (which stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security Regolith Explorer) has been observing the space rock and looking for spots to land.
This illustration shows NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descending towards asteroid Bennu to collect a sample of the asteroid’s surface.
In December 2019, prior to the pandemic, NASA picked the spot where it would land on the asteroid