OT: Asteroid Bennu

Oct 24, 2020 5 Replies

Hi,



NASA have a small probe that just made a touch & go landing on an asteroid to pick up a few ounces of material. Bennu is about 490m across and a little denser than water.



It weighs about 70 million tonnes making its surface gravity 7 exp-6 g.



The probe had been orbiting Bennu at a height of 870m taking about 48 hours at speed of 30mm per second.



The range from Earth is about 200 million miles or 18 minutes at light speed.



Nice bit of remote control....


.... Phil


Come a long way from Sputnik 1

===================

** I actually saw Sputnik 1 travelling overhead late one night.

My parents go me out of bed to see what I thought was the "Spudnik"

Heck, I was only 5 and a bit.

.... Phil

But maybe a bit overzealous with sample collection...

Jeff

Jabbut they forgot to close the sampler bin door properly.......

They didn't give NASA enough time to pay up here:

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