![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/osiris-rex-nasa-awaits-fiery-return-of-asteroid-bennu-samples/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/131238482_36939727570_f0a326af90_onasa.jpg&description=Image source, NASA Image caption, Artwork: The Osiris-Rex spacecraft will target the capsule at Earth and then divert to a new mission A seven-year mission to study what has been described as the most dangerous rock in the Solar System is about to reach its dramatic conclusion. The Osiris-Rex spacecraft is bringing home the "soil" samples it grabbed from the surface of asteroid Bennu. These dusty materials will be dropped off by the Nasa probe as it sweeps past the Earth on Sunday. They'll be tucked inside a capsule to protect them from a fiery descent to the US State of Utah. Scientists expect the samples' chemistry to reveal new information about the formation of the planets 4.5 billion years ago, and possibly even to give insights on how life got started on our world. Touchdown on desert land belonging to the Department of Defense is expected at 08:55 local time (14:55 GMT; 15:55 BST). It is sure to be an anxiety-fuelled day for everyone involved in the Osiris-Rex project - especially during the 13 minutes it takes for the capsule to fall through the atmosphere. The car tyre-sized container will be moving initially at more than 12km/s (27,000mph) and experiencing peak heating in excess of 3,000C. But a combination of a thermal shield and parachutes should bring it to a safe stop on the desert plain. "We have spent an inordinate amount of time preparing for contingencies, everything that could go wrong, all the horrible things that we might encounter," mission principal investigator Dante Lauretta told the BBC. "But the good news is we've practised and practised and practised and so we're ready to go." The Osiris-Rex probe spacecraft left Earth in 2016 to investigate Bennu, which has a very slight chance of hitting our planet late next century. The probe took two years to reach the 500m-wide rock and a further two years observing the "space mountain" before making an audacious series of manoeuvres that obtained the cache of surface materials. All that remains is t){kind=link}
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Watch: Why asteroid Bennu samples are so important… in 83 seconds
Dusty samples from the “most dangerous known rock in the Solar System” have been brought to Earth.
The American space agency Nasa landed the materials in a capsule that came down in the West Desert of Utah state.
The samples had been scooped up from the surface of asteroid Bennu in 2020 by the Osiris-Rex spacecraft.