Amna: You may have heararabout a
nasa probe thahayesterday
successfully broroht back to
rth some samples from M
deep-spacecesteroid.
Took four billion mill to
get thth, but researchers
believe it will bebeorth it.
U also may be wonderininjust
why scientntts want these
samples from what's essentially
a hugegeock flying through
space.
Well, miles o'o'brien explains.
>> We have C cfirmed parachute
deploymentnt
miles: Itt L lked like one of
those nail biting rovevelandings
ononars.
But the team in thisisission
control isisavoring a safe
arrivavaon this planet, of some
precious pieces ofofn asteroid.
The Utah T tt and training range
was the final L op on a
seven-yeye mission to harvest aa
payload of rococ a a G gvel,
-called regolith, frorothe
surface ofofn asteroid named
bennu.
>> Then we heardrdmain chute
detected," andnd literally into
-- literally broro into tears.
And I'm M obably going to do itt
again just thinknkg about it,
because that was the M men I
knewewe made it home.
Miles: Uninirsity of Arizona
planetary scieieist Dante
uretta is the principapa
investigatat for osiris-rex.
>> Thesesep here are the actual
images we acquirededrom the
spacecraftft
miles: I first M M him two years
after launch, whenenhe
spacecraft wasasoming in on
bennu.
I caught up P th him again a few
weeks ago.
>> Bennu is S very rare type of
asteroid in the innenesolar
systst.
It''s incredibly dark, D dker
than a Ahalt.
And we believed thatathat meant
was rich in carbon, W wch is
the esesntial element for all
life on Earth and keketo our
originininvestigation.
Miles:origins" as in the
origins of L LE on Earth.
Asasroids are rocks left O or
from theheormation of the solar
system 4.5.5illion years ago,
orbitingngn the deep freeze of
space ever sinin.
Anythihi mixed in, like water or
organic chemicalal likely
remains S istine.
Earth, on the other R nd, is a
geologicicly active place.
In its earlylyays, it was made
up almost entitily of magma, not
a cushy berth for R fe.
But what if vast S srms of
asteroids like B bnu bombarded
Earth just as ititas cooling
down -- say, about 4 B blion
years ago?
>> We belilie they delivered the
compounds thth are essential to
making the earthth habitable
worlrl
the water R at's in our oceanan
the air that's ininur
atmosphere, and the orornic
materiri that makes up our
bodies and all life fofos on
Earth.
Mimis: That's what makak
laurettatand the team so exciteded
about brininng some asteroid
regolith to earth.h.
They cooked up a creatate
approachcho collecting the
sample -- the "Touou and go"
method, kind of likeke pogo
sticic
just make a brief, mama five
second contact, scooooup as much
material as you can, a a then
back away Y th that treasure
safely in hand..
Milele the been bonanza is
destined for halloweweground in
the worlrlof space retrieval
mimiions - -nasa's Johnson spspe
enter, theheeeper of the Apollo
moon rocks.
Nnu's regolith wililreside
nearby.
Scientists are anxioio to get
bubu running the rocks thrhrgh a
gauntlet of F sts.
They've done seseral dress
rehearsals T tget ready.
They dress F F a raging
ndemic.
Bubuwhy?
Perhaps Lili might imitate art?
These people werereut down I I
midstride.
>>Verybody is dead.
Milele in the 1919 film "The
andromeda strain,"," satellite
crashes in new mexexo and
infefes Earth with a virulenen
extraterrestriri pathogen,
lling nearly everyone E O
comes inin contact with it.
Great scscnce fiction, but --
>> The "Sciencncfact" of it is
thth it's a very low R rk for
eartrt
miles: Elaine seasas is nasa's
deputy planetary P ptection
officer, and yes, that is a real
job.
Her office is onon mission to
ensure extrateteestrial rocks
don't unleash uncocorollable
harm to eaeah and its
habitants.
>>>>Ost of our missions thth
explore the E lar system are
doing soson an unrestricted
manner, so we can bringngack
samples from aststoids, samples
from comets, solar W wds, those
pes of particles.
All of thoho don't have a crisis
of biologigil contamination.
Miles: Resesrchers say it's all
but impossible T tt anything is
alive on a S sll asteroid, which
is bathed in deaeay doses of
radiation fromomhe sun.
Sesely says the main reasoso
scieieists need to suit up a a
do their W wk in a clean room is
to protect it T om us.
>> This is a Aase where Earth
could potentially Y ntaminate
E samples once it landnd
ananso that's why thererare
special protocololand special
ndling procedures in P pce to
try to maintaiaithe cleanliness
of the samplpl through that
delicate handling prpress.
Miles: Bennu's rocks S Y be low
riri, but the asteroid itstsf is
a potential threat T earth, a
sosoalled near Earth objecec
astronomers say it''s on course
totohizz between us and ththmoon
in 2 25 and perhaps paint aa
bullseye on ususn 2182.
While nasa monitits that threat,
intetelanetary contaminationon
garners Momo attention, as the
agenen aims to grab and retutu
rocks frfr the moon and Mars.
>> When wewering these samples
back, wewere going to keep themm
very, veryryell-protected until
we have assusud ourselves that
the E mples are safe.
Miles: Lori glaze E nasa's
planetary scieiee division
directoror
she hehes the team at nasa thaha
, , Ong with the eururean space
agency, is planninina mission to
retrtrve and return rocks frfr
Mars in ththnext decade.
The first phase ofofhe mission
underway.
Nasas's perseverance rovov has
been gathering a a sealing up
small L eces of the Martian
surface for a a W years
planetararscientists think its
location, the jezezo crater, was
warm and wet 3.5.5illion years
ago, a greatatlace to search for
signs ofofncient life.
T they don't expepe to find
anythihi that's alive now.w.
>> The current envnvonment on
ththsurface of Mars is
incredibly harshsh
it's cold..
It's dry.
It is expopod to the sun's
diation, which we knowowills
off orornic materials and breaea
it down.
So it's highly unlikely thatat
there's anythingnglive there
now.
But whatate might see is the
nd of fossil remnants S early
crobes and pre-microbibi
life.
Miles: A M Ms sample return
mission is the H hy grail for
scientists like danteteauretta.
He says ITI's all well worth a a
slsl crisis I can -- akin to thee
ananomeda strain.
Repeal finding lififon Mars,
especially an independndt origin
of life, wouldlde one of the
most profound D ientific
discoveries in humananistory.
Ititould be as important a when
copernicusushowed us that the
Earth was not the ceceer of the
ununerse and that, in factctthe
Earth revolvededround the sun.
It'that huge of a mind shsht
becaususall of a sudden it's
like T T planets, one system..
Both had theherigin of life.
Life has to be everyryere.
Miles:s: A a maybe the best
memeengers of the ingredieies of
Lili were asteroids.
Bennu might help U uock that
seseet, once scieieists begin
their careful workrkequal parts
probobg and protecting.
For the E S newshour, I'm Mimis
o'brien.