NASA seeks a near-Earth asteroid sample
|
|
|
LAUREL, Md., March 13 NASA has started detailed planning to obtain a sample of organic material from a small asteroid named RQ36 that regularly crosses Earth's orbit.It's a treasure trove of organic material, so it holds clues to how Earth formed and life got started, said Joseph Nuth of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ' s Goddard Space Flight Center in Laurel, Md. Nuth is the project scientist for the proposed OSIRIS mission that will be the first to return a sample of an asteroid to Earth. He said OSIRIS will launch in 2011, acquire a sample from RQ36 in 2013 and return to Earth in 2017, NASA said.OSIRIS will return 150 grams -- about 5 ounces, said Jason Dworkin, a co-investigator on the OSIRIS project. We'll take it apart almost atom by atom. It will keep a lot of people busy for a long time.Copyright 2007 by UPI
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related News
Deep ocean census finds jumbo Dumbo and oil-drilling worms
Washington - Marine scientists have identified 17,650 species in ocean depths so far down that light no longer penetrates, according to the newest update in the years-long census of marine life released Sunday. The oddest...
New 'transition' dinosaur species discovered in South Africa
Johannesburg - South African palaeontologists on Wednesday announced the discovery of a new species of transition dinosaur that straddles the divide between the four-legged giant plant-eating sauropods and their bipedal carnivorous predecessors. Th...
Anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss dies at age 100
Paris - Anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, widely considered one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century, has died at age 100, the Academie Francaise said Tuesday. Levi-Strauss, who would have turned 101 on November 28, died early Sun...
British scientists thrilled at 'sea monster' discovery on coast
London - British scientists said Tuesday they were excited at the discovery of the fossilised skull of a giant sea monster in a scenic region of south-west Britain known as the Jurassic Coast. Dorset county council said the fossil comes from a plio...
Disgraced South Korean clone scientist gets 2-year term - Summary
Seoul- A South Korean scientist initially hailed as a cloning pioneer and national hero was handed a two-year suspended sentence Monday for embezzling research money after an investigation uncovered faked research into cloning human embryonic stem ce...
Disgraced South Korean cloning researcher found guilty
Seoul - The South Korean scientist initially hailed as a cloning pioneer and national hero until an investigation found some faked research into cloning human embryonic stem cells was convicted Monday of embezzling research grants. Hwang Woo Suk, 56,...
Bokova elected first woman UNESCO director-general - Summary
Paris - Bulgarian diplomat Irina Bokova was Thursday officially elected the first woman director-general of UNESCO, the Paris-based scientific and cultural organization said late Thursday. The 57-year-old Bokova was overwhelmingly confirmed by a vote...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
