When the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected a sample of near-Earth asteroid Bennu, it revealed surprising details about Bennu’s loosely packed surface. The spacecraft’s arm sank almost half a metre into the asteroid, far deeper than expected, confirming that Bennu’s surface is incredibly weak. 🪨 During the event, OSIRIS-REx collected a handful of material and kicked up roughly six tons of loose rock. It will return its sample of Bennu to Earth in September 2023. Thanks to its contribution to the m

• Asteroid 101955 Bennu Rotating 24.9.2020 • This rotating mosaic of asteroid Bennu is composed of 40 images captured by the PolyCam imager onboard NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft over a four-hour period on December 2, 2018. During the observation period, the spacecraft’s range to the center of the asteroid decreased from about 15.3 to 14.6 miles (24.6 to 23.5 km). • More on 101955 Bennu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/101955_Bennu • Source: NASA Goddard Media Studios • Credit: NASA/Goddard/Universi