dv said:
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/10/us/water-found-on-asteroid-osiris-rex/index.html
NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission, OSIRIS-REx, reached the asteroid Bennu only a week ago, but it’s already learning more about this time capsule from the early solar system.
OSIRIS-REx, which stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, has found water within the clays on Bennu.
Bennu was worth the two-year wait to reach it.
> Two spectrometers on the spacecraft, OVIRS and OTES, discovered hydroxyls, or molecules of oxygen and hydrogen atoms bonded together. The mission scientists believe that these hydroxyls exist across the asteroid, locked in clay minerals.
Hydrogen peroxide!
(Sorry, couldn’t resist)
> The presence of hydrated minerals across the asteroid confirms that Bennu, a remnant from early in the formation of the solar system, is an excellent specimen for the OSIRIS-REx mission to study the composition of primitive volatiles and organics.
Agree, volatiles aren’t easily studied on meteorites because they tend to get fried out during the heating on descent through the atmosphere.
> the asteroid’s surface is more rocky than expected, with more boulders. This means the mission scientists will need to make more observations at closer range to ensure from where a sample can be taken from the surface in 2020.
Just like Ryugu.
And just like Itokawa back earlier.