A chunk of asteroid is coming to Earth

It could shed light on the origins of life—and how to protect it


  • by
  • 09 20, 2023
  • in Science and technology

ON SEPTEMBERTHOSIRISRE 24, if all goes according to plan, scientists will hit Earth with part of an asteroid. That is less alarming than it sounds, for the chunk of rock in question weighs at most a few hundred grams. It will arrive in a small capsule, complete with parachute, that will drift gently to the ground in the Utah desert.The rock is from an asteroid named Bennu, which was visited in 2018 by an American spacecraft called . The probe will drop its cargo off en route to another asteroid, Apophis, at which it is due to arrive in 2029.

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