Calgary scientist gets out-of-this world research opportunity with Bennu asteroid

A mission launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has returned to Earth with the largest asteroid sample ever collected, helping researchers study the beginnings of life itself, and a Calgary-based professor is part of the research team.

Alan Hildebrand, a planetary scientist and associate professor in the department of Earth, Energy and Environment at the University of Calgary, is one the researchers studying a piece of the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid known as Bennu.

The specimen came from NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission — which stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security, Regolith Explorer — launched in 2016.

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft spent seven years in space visiting a near-Earth asteroid and collecting various samples.

"Like almost all asteroids, [the Bennu specimen] dates from the formation of the solar system," said Hildebrand.

"It carries clues to how our solar system formed, how the planets evolved, and perhaps will help us understand what happened on the early Earth, how it formed in the late stages."

Hildebrand has been involved in this mission since 2009, working with a team of about 100 scientists — five of which are Canadian — studying the composition, age, strength and thermal properties of the sample.

He was even able to see the spacecraft return after the mission, travelling to the Nevada desert with some friends to watch the canister fly overhead as it came back to Earth.

Bennu is special — this specimen is a dark asteroid, a term for asteroids that can help scientists study the formation of the solar system. He says the rocks that make up this specimen are "thought to be a bit different than any others."

"We don't have many meteorites from that type of asteroid, and it's a little bit different spectrally," the planetary scientist said.

Part of what makes this specimen unique is how the sample was collected. NASA's spacecraft spent a year mapping this asteroid, which Hildebrand says means there's more context around its origins.

"When a meteorite falls on Earth, we don't know where it came from. It's just a rock. But in this case, we'll be able to relate some things we see in the rock to the asteroid that they [originally] came from."

And that's partly because the Earth's atmosphere can contaminate asteroid samples when they hit the planet, making the OSIRIS-REx mission an important scientific development in studying asteroid samples straight from the source.

"Everything is a new discovery as we are glimpsing the early part of the development of this magnificent thing called the universe," said NASA administrator, Bill Nelson.

NASA's first ever sample from an asteroid, Nelson says the OSIRIS-REx mission was "perfect" and that what was discovered is exactly what researchers hoped to find, as "it's the biggest carbon rich asteroid sample ever returned to earth."

"We're trying to find out who we are, what we are, where we came from, what is our place in this vastness called the universe," Nelson said as he addressed the crowd at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, during Wednesday's Bennu unveiling.

Nelson says this mission is a key element in helping scientists study these questions and our solar systems, and  in helping NASA intercept asteroids that could threaten the planet.

And this remains true for Bennu, too — the asteroid could impact the earth in roughly 150 years, says Hildebrand.

He also noted that the University of Calgary has over 20 years of experience studying rare, delicate space rocks.

"We've learned how to prepare small specimens and push the limits," said Hildebrand.

Because part of the mission takes place in Canada, Hildebrand says the country will also get to hold on to four per cent of the sample, and that will stay in Canada.

The mission team is only allowed to study 25 per cent of the sample, and the remainder will be archived by NASA's Johnson Space Centre for future analysis to account for scientific developments and new technologies.

The canister that contains the Bennu specimen won't be opened until Oct. 16, and after some weeks of image taking and discussions, Hildebrand hopes to start studying the sample by November.