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NASA Finally Gets At Its Bits of Bennu

You might wonder why NASA (and scientists) care so much about stuff that looks like some black gravel. It's because it is likely the stuff that formed the solar system.

Rocky Planet iconRocky Planet
By Erik Klemetti
Jan 29, 2024 3:50 PMJan 29, 2024 3:54 PM
This mosaic image of asteroid Bennu is composed of 12 PolyCam images collected on Dec. 2 by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from a range of 15 miles (24 kilometers). The image was obtained at a 50° phase angle between the spacecraft, asteroid and the Sun, and in it, Bennu spans approximately 1,500 pixels in the camera’s field of view.
A mosaic image of asteroid Bennu. (Credit: OCAMS/NASA)

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Eight years. Over a billion dollars. New tools that even get at the samples ... and this is what people saw:

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