Scientists at the Johnson Space Center now have their hands on the first asteroid sample ever obtained by the US. The material could reveal unprecedented answers about how our solar system was formed, and how life began.
"It brought something extraordinary, the largest asteroid sample ever received on Earth," said NASA administrator Bill Nelson. "This mission proves that NASA does big things, things that inspire us, things that unite us. It wasn't mission impossible. It was the impossible that became possible."
"Scientists believe that the asteroid Bennu is representative of the solar system's own oldest materials forged in large dying stars and supernova explosions," said Lori Glaze, director of NASA's Scientific Planetary Division after the cannister landed on U.S. soil on Sunday. "And for this reason, NASA is investing in these missions devoted to small bodies to increase our understanding of how our solar system formed and how it evolved.
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