Last year, NASA obtained a sample from the surface of the asteroid Bennu. It is a relatively small near-Earth
Using orbital data from spaceOSIRIS-REx, researchers measured tiny craters (ranging from a few centimeters to a meter) on boulders scattered across its rough surface. The goal is to shed light on the age of the asteroid.
Although the collected sample will have a hugescientific significance, when it is returned to Earth in 2023, a key challenge for scientists while in orbit at Bennu was to understand the geology of the entire asteroid (to provide an important context for the sample itself). This gives an idea of all the processes that could affect the nature of the sample.
The data collected by OSIRIS-REx on Bennu allowedscientists find impact craters on its surface, as well as on the surface of their boulders. The study showed that the lifetime of an asteroid around Earth is 1.75 million years.
Bennu is a dark pile of rubbleheld by gravity, and is believed to be the remnant of an asteroid from a collision with a larger main belt object. Boulders are scattered across its heavily cracked surface, indicating that it has led a tumultuous life since liberation from its much larger parent asteroid millions or even billions of years ago. Scientists are using impact crater studies to determine the age of planetary surfaces.
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