The science objectives of the mission are:[24]
- Return and analyze a sample of pristine carbonaceous asteroid regolith in an amount sufficient to study the nature, history, and distribution of its constituent minerals and organic material.
- Map the global properties, chemistry, and mineralogy of a primitive carbonaceous asteroid to characterize its geologic and dynamic history and provide context for the returned samples.
- Document the texture, morphology, geochemistry, and spectral properties of the regolith at the sampling site in situ at scales down to millimeters.
- Measure the Yarkovsky effect (a thermal force on the object) on a potentially hazardous asteroid and constrain the asteroid properties that contribute to this effect.
- Characterize the integrated global properties of a primitive carbonaceous asteroid to allow for direct comparison with ground-based telescopic data of the entire asteroid population.
Telescopic observations have revealed some basic properties of Bennu. They indicate that it is very dark and is classified as a B-type asteroid, a sub-type of the carbonaceous C-type asteroids. Such asteroids are considered "primitive", having undergone little geological change from their time of formation.
No comments:
Post a Comment