Tuesday, July 15, 2025
LBNN
  • Business
  • Markets
  • Politics
  • Crypto
  • Finance
  • Energy
  • Technology
  • Taxes
  • Creator Economy
  • Wealth Management
  • Documentaries
No Result
View All Result
LBNN

This First Peek Inside NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Capsule Is a Glimpse Back in Time

Simon Osuji by Simon Osuji
October 12, 2023
in Artificial Intelligence
0
This First Peek Inside NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Capsule Is a Glimpse Back in Time
0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


Following him, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator Dante Lauretta showed four more finely detailed images of the sample, all taken by an electron microscope, and spoke more about the significance of carbon. He described the material as clay minerals which have water locked inside their fibrous, serpentine crystal structures. “That is how we think water got to the Earth. The reason that Earth is a habitable world—that we have oceans and lakes and rain—is because these clay minerals landed on Earth 4 to 4.5 billion years ago, making our world habitable,” he said. “[And] not just Earth, but probably Venus and Mars,” which could have had water in the early days of the solar system.

As he flipped through the images, he showed how some of the material has a hexagonal shape characteristic of sulfur, which, he said, is critical for biology. “A lot of the amino acids that give structure to our cells use sulfur,” he said. He also showed images of both framboidal (raspberry-shaped) and platelike bits of magnetite. “Those platey ones might be important for organic evolution. They might catalyze certain reactions,” he said.

Daniel Glavin, the OSIRIS-REx sample analysis lead, then showed what it was like to look at a grain of the asteroid material under ultraviolet light. Under the light, the sample was bright blue, flecked with tiny white bright spots that he compared to stars. “The stuff’s lighting up,” he said, explaining that the fluorescence indicates carbonate minerals. “This is organic matter, called organic globules. This thing’s loaded with organics.”

The talk also included a prerecorded video from curation scientist Nicole Lunning standing outside a specially-constructed clean room at Johnson Space Center’s Building 31. The building is already home to the largest collection of asteroid materials in the world, and will be the permanent address for the Bennu sample. Because organics are such a focus of this mission, Lunning said, the clean room had been specifically designed to avoid contaminating the sample with biological materials from Earth.

Lunning described much of the material as fine dust and intermediate-size particles, about the width of short-grain rice. She pointed out that so far, NASA has examined only a tiny part of the sample, and they have not yet fully opened the sample container. She said they will continue taking the collection head apart, dividing the sample into handling trays “that look like deep dish pizza dishes.” In six months, she said, the agency will release a catalog to give scientists a chance to propose studies and request samples. Some 230 scientists around the world will work on analysis for two years, she said, and portions of the material will go on public display at the Smithsonian, Space Center Houston, and the University of Arizona.



Source link

Related posts

First publicly available Japanese AI dialogue system can speak and listen simultaneously

First publicly available Japanese AI dialogue system can speak and listen simultaneously

July 15, 2025
How to use AI to start an online business

How to use AI to start an online business

July 15, 2025
Previous Post

Anysphere raises $8M from OpenAI to build an AI-powered IDE

Next Post

Stocks, futures rise as focus switches to US CPI: Markets wrap

Next Post
Stocks, futures rise as focus switches to US CPI: Markets wrap

Stocks, futures rise as focus switches to US CPI: Markets wrap

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECOMMENDED NEWS

Rwanda strengthens fight against antimicrobial resistance with Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) support

Rwanda strengthens fight against antimicrobial resistance with Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) support

2 months ago
AI may soon account for half of data center power use if trends persist

AI may soon account for half of data center power use if trends persist

2 months ago
If You Didn’t Care About Antarctica’s Icy Belly, You Will Now

If You Didn’t Care About Antarctica’s Icy Belly, You Will Now

2 years ago
French Patrol Aircraft Threatened by Russian Military: Minister

French Patrol Aircraft Threatened by Russian Military: Minister

6 months ago

POPULAR NEWS

  • Ghana to build three oil refineries, five petrochemical plants in energy sector overhaul

    Ghana to build three oil refineries, five petrochemical plants in energy sector overhaul

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • When Will SHIB Reach $1? Here’s What ChatGPT Says

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The world’s top 10 most valuable car brands in 2025

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Top 10 African countries with the highest GDP per capita in 2025

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Global ranking of Top 5 smartphone brands in Q3, 2024

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 LBNN - All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Markets
  • Crypto
  • Economics
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate
    • Infrastructure
  • Finance
  • Energy
  • Creator Economy
  • Wealth Management
  • Taxes
  • Telecoms
  • Military & Defense
  • Careers
  • Technology
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Investigative journalism
  • Art & Culture
  • Documentaries
  • Quizzes
    • Enneagram quiz
  • Newsletters
    • LBNN Newsletter
    • Divergent Capitalist

© 2023 LBNN - All rights reserved.