The Bennu Asteroid
6/2/202617 min
In September 2023, a small NASA capsule streaked through Earth’s atmosphere and landed in the Utah desert, carrying 122 grams of material from the asteroid Bennu. That material has existed for more than four and a half billion years, preserving clues from the earliest moments of the solar system. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a team of scientists is now studying tiny fragments of the sample with extraordinary precision, examining isotopes and microscopic minerals to read the stories locked inside. As studies continue, they are revealing how some of the ingredients used by life on Earth are also present in ancient space rocks.
Guests featured (in order of appearance):
- Greg Brennecka - Staff Scientist, LLNL
- Thomas Kruijer - Staff Scientist, LLNL
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Big Ideas Lab is a Mission.org original series.
Executive Produced by Levi Hanusch.
Sound Design, Music Edit and Mix by Matthew Powell.
Script by Caroline Kidd
Story Editing by Levi Hanusch.
Audio Engineering and Editing by Matthew Powell.
Narrated by Matthew Powell.
Video Production by Levi Hanusch.
Brought to you in partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMatthew Powell0:00
[wind blowing] In a remote corner of Utah, a distant boom rolls across the desert. A capsule only 32 inches wide has just separated from NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and entered Earth's atmosphere.
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:15
DL milestone. We have confirmed parachute deployment. [parachute opening] Touchdown. I repeat, DL SRC has touchdown.
Speaker 3· Soundbite0:27
NASA's OSIRIS-REx, the first-ever US mission to collect a sample from an asteroid returning to Earth.
Matthew Powell0:35
After a round-trip journey of more than two billion miles, the capsule hits the desert floor, and the recovery team moves in carefully.
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:43
Roger that. Eyes on the capsule. Start your retrieval.
Matthew Powell0:46
Fast-forward three months, and the desert sand has given way to white surfaces, sealed containers, and the sound of people taking every precaution to protect what NASA spent seven years to bring home. A scientist reaches for the sample container slowly, because he knows it's impossible to replace.
Greg Brennecka· Guest1:12
I was using a gloved hand due to [laughs] contamination issues, but it was pretty spectacular. You really are looking at something that has changed very, very little since its inception.
Matthew Powell1:21
The object in that room was a delivery four and a half billion years in the making, and somewhere inside it,