NASA’s spacecraft detects water on target asteroid

Only a few days after arriving on its target asteroid, NASA’s spacecraft has already given a great news as it has discovered water on the space rock.

After two years, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived on its target asteroid Bennu last week. The space agency announced that the spacecraft has already gained significant insights from the asteroid as it discovered water trapped inside Bennu’s clay minerals.

Which brings us to something big... We found water on Bennu! ☄️💦 Two of my spectrometers – OVIRS and OTES – detected the chemical fingerprints of water bound up in hydrated clay minerals over a large part of the asteroid’s surface. #WelcomeToBennu #AGU18 https://t.co/PJC8agBLEE pic.twitter.com/F74s8dGIIl

— NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) December 10, 2018

OSIRIS-REx used its two spectrometers to detect the hydroxyls (bonded hydrogen and oxygen atoms), which further indicated interaction with water in its water-bearing clay minerals. Though Bennu might have water traces, it clearly doesn’t mean that there is liquid water on the asteroid’s surface at present, as it is too small to support liquid water.

NASA’s spacecraft successfully lands on asteroid expected to hit Earth

Researchers believe that Bennu’s parent asteroid, which was much bigger in size, hosted liquid water at one point and these traces were carried over to the smaller asteroid after it was shattered in a huge collision, reported The Verge.

“Bennu appears to be a very water-rich target, and water is the most interesting and perhaps the most lucrative commodity that you would mine from an asteroid,” said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator of the OSIRIS-REx mission.

Moreover, water is believed to be very valuable for future space missions since it is a potential source of fuel. This also means that being able to mine asteroid for water would eventually lead scientists to not rely on Earth for fuel and can explore further into the Solar System.

OSIRIS-REx is currently located about 12 miles above Bennu’s surface. It will enter orbit on December 31 and will begin detailed mapping of its surface. The spacecraft will be there till 2020 and return back to Earth by 2023.