NASA confirms sample collection site on asteroid Bennu

NASA scientists behind The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-Rex) mission have finally selected a sample collection site on the asteroid Bennu's boulder-scattered surface.

In a press statement, the American space agency noted a site designated Nightingale -- located in a crater high in Bennu's northern hemisphere -- as the best spot for the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to snag its sample.

Over the last few months, the OSIRIS-REx team has been evaluating close-range data from four candidate sites to identify the best option for asteroid sample collection.

These sites, dubbed Sandpiper, Osprey, Kingfisher, and Nightingale, were chosen for investigation since they posed the fewest hazards to the spacecraft's safety while also providing the opportunity for great samples to be gathered.

After thoroughly evaluating all four candidate sites, we made our final decision based on which site has the greatest amount of fine-grained material, and how easily the spacecraft can access that material while keeping the spacecraft safe, said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Of the four candidates, site Nightingale best meets these criteria and, ultimately, best ensures mission success, Lauretta said.

The researchers said the site Nightingale is located in a northern crater about 140 metres wide.

According to the team, Nightingale's regolith -- or rocky surface material -- is dark, with a seemingly smooth crater.

The temperatures in the region are lower than elsewhere on the asteroid with well-preserved surface material as the site is located far up north, NASA noted in the statement.

The crater could be relatively young with freshly exposed regolith, meaning a pristine sample of the asteroid may be collected from this region, offering deep insights into Bennu's history, according to the researchers.