The ambitious mission to retrieve samples from asteroid Bennu and return them to Earth is paying off.

Just as scientists had hoped, the asteroid is revealing details about the early days in our Solar System. More than just a simple space rock, Bennu contains not only material from the Solar System, but material from beyond our system.

Bennu follows an orbit that brings it close to Earth every six years. That means it's classified as a near-Earth asteroid (NEA) and a potentially hazardous object (PHO).

When NASA was planning the OSIRIS-REx mission that visited Bennu and returned the sample, it was the result of a vigorous scientific and engineering evaluation of candidate asteroids. Since Bennu is both close to Earth and a primitive carbonaceous asteroid, NASA settled on it as the targ

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