The latest hint that Bennu was not what it seemed came after the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft picked up a sample and beamed stunning, close-up images of the asteroid’s surface to Earth.

The spacecraft’s sampling head touched Bennu’s surface for approximately 6 seconds before retreating. By stirring up some of the dust and pebbles on the asteroid, OSIRIS-REx was able to grab a ...

On October 20, 2020, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft kicked up roughly six tons of loose rock and dust when it sampled the surface of near-Earth asteroid Bennu. The collection arm sank far deeper ...

A footprint in the sand, so to speak. However, that isn’t what happened. Instead, when OSIRIS-REx made contact with the asteroid Bennu, pebbles and debris exploded off the surface of the asteroid.

Dec. 3, 2018: OSIRIS-REx arrives at asteroid Bennu. Dec. 31, 2019: OSIRIS-REx begins orbiting Bennu. Oct. 20, 2020: Sample successfully collected from Bennu. April 7, 2021: Final flyover of Bennu.

On Sunday, NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex mission will deliver a sample it collected from asteroid Bennu, completing a seven-year journey that could provide insights into how life originated on Earth.

After examining just 0.06% of a 120-gram material sample from the surface of asteroid Bennu — which returned to Earth in Utah's west desert in September 2023 — a group of scientists has ...

Bennu's trek around the sun takes 435 days, but every six years the asteroid passes relatively close — within about 186,000 miles — to Earth. For reference, that's closer to Earth than the moon.

The carbon-rich asteroid is on a trajectory that puts it near Earth's orbit, and indeed there is a 0.037 percent chance that it will hit Earth in 2182. (The odds that Bennu hits Earth go up to 1 ...

Scientists thought asteroid Bennu's surface would be like a sandy beach, abundant in fine sand and pebbles, which would have been perfect for collecting samples.Past telescope observations from ...

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will launch September 2016 and travel to a near-Earth asteroid known as Bennu to harvest a sample of surface material and return it to Earth for study.

This view of asteroid Bennu ejecting particles from its surface on Jan. 19, 2019, was created by combining two images taken on board NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.