After a journey of seven years and nearly 4 billion miles, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft landed gently in the Utah desert on the morning of Sept. 24, 2023, with a precious payload. The spacecraft brought back a sample from the asteroid Bennu.
Roughly half a pound of material collected from the 85 million-ton asteroid (77.6 billion kg) will help scientists learn about the formation of the solar system, including whether asteroids like Bennu include the chemical ingredients for life.
NASA’s mission was budgeted at US$800 million and will end up costing around $1.16 billion for just under 9 ounces of sample (255 g). But is this the most expensive material known? Not even close.
I’m a professor of astronomy. I use Moon and Mars rocks in my teaching and have a modest collection of meteorites. I marvel at the fact that I can hold in my hand something that is billions of years old from billions of miles away.
