Discoveries

ASU scientists offer first look at Bennu

Tempe campus

January 31, 2019

The first results from the study of the asteroid beyond Mars are surprising

On Thursday night, explorers gave a first report of a new land.

A packed house at Arizona State University heard the first details of the mission to study an asteroid beyond Mars.

After a two-year voyage, the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission arrived at Bennu, an asteroid the size of the pyramid at Giza, in December.

And it has surprised scientists since.

“We didn’t know what it looked like, and that’s called exploration,” said Phil Christensen, mission co-investigator, lead of the spacecraft’s OTES instrument, and Regents' Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at ASU.

First surprise: Bennu is a craggy ball, with some boulders the size of houses. Scientists thought taking the sample return was going to be like plucking something from a football field. It’s not.

“It’s going to be like landing between two parked cars in a parking lot,” Christensen said.

That problem is a ways off. The asteroid will be studied for a year before the craft touches down — briefly — on the surface and grabs four pounds of material, which will be sent back to Earth to crash into the Utah desert in 2023.

“The beauty of this mission is … we get to bring rocks back,” Christensen said.

Operating the spacecraft is breaking records — for orbiting a body this small, and for orbiting so closely. The spacecraft is flying above the asteroid at the height of the Empire State Building.

“The navigation on this mission is amazing,” Christensen said.

Bennu holds water.

“What’s interesting about these meteorites is that they contain water,” said Vicky Hamilton, a co-investigator on the OSIRIS-REx mission, lead for the OTES spectrum analysis team and a planetary geologist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

It’s not in liquid form, but it's in the minerals — up to 2 percent in some cases. Bennu’s parent body had significant interactions with water, Hamilton said.

Much more data will be collected over the next calendar year.

Scientists think asteroids may contain clues to the origins of life. The small, rocky bodies have never been explored before. No one knows how they form, how they behave or what’s on them.

The samples will be studied by scientists for decades.

It's a packed house as the audience gathers Thursday evening at the Marston Exploration Theater in Tempe to hear the first details of the mission to study an asteroid beyond Mars.

Photo by Marcus Chormicle/ASU Now

Operating the spacecraft is breaking records — for orbiting a body this small, and for orbiting so closely. It is flying above the asteroid at the height of the Empire State Building. “The navigation on this mission is amazing,” said Phil Christensen, mission co-investigator, lead of the spacecraft’s OTES instrument, and Regents' Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration.

Photo by Marcus Chormicle/ASU Now

A screen shows the asteroid Bennu to an audience

One of the surprises of early findings: Bennu is a craggy ball, with some boulders the size of houses. Scientists thought taking the sample return was going to be like plucking something from a football field. It’s not. “It’s going to be like landing between two parked cars in a parking lot,” Christensen said.

Photo by Marcus Chormicle/ASU Now

“What’s interesting about these meteorites is that they contain water,” said Vicky Hamilton, a co-investigator on the OSIRIS-REx mission and lead for the OTES spectrum analysis team. It’s not in liquid form, but it's in the minerals — up to 2 percent in some cases. Bennu’s parent body had significant interactions with water, Hamilton said.

Photo by Marcus Chormicle/ASU Now

OSIRIS-REx spacecraft contacting the asteroid Bennu

This artist's concept shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft contacting Bennu with its Touch-And-Go Sample Arm Mechanism, or TAGSAM. The OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer, built at ASU, will help scientists choose a spot for TAGSAM to collect a sample for return to Earth. The spectrometer will gather information about Bennu's mineralogy and provide data to analyze the asteroid's trajectory.

Image by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

“Literally, the carbon that’s on Earth came from asteroids like Bennu,” Christensen said.

Bennu is not a solid rock. It’s either porous or formed of a very “fluffy” — Christensen’s word — material.

This type of meteorite is so fragile, if you get it wet or touch it with your hands, it’s ruined, said Devin Schrader, a carbonaceous meteorite collaborator on the OSIRIS-REx mission. He is also an assistant research professor with the ASU Center for Meteorite Studies.

One of the reasons Bennu was chosen for exploration is its relatively high likelihood of hitting Earth in the next century. Knowing the physical and chemical makeup of the asteroid will be critical to know in the event of what NASA calls an “impact-mitigation mission.”

OTES stands for OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer. It will sniff out what types of minerals are on the asteroid, how big the particle sizes are and what the temperature is. It has been vital in the year of mapping and studying Bennu before the decisions are made on where to pick up samples, and it’s the first space instrument built entirely on the ASU campus.

Top photo: This mosaic image of asteroid Bennu is composed of 12 PolyCam images collected on Dec. 2 by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from a range of 15 miles (24 km). The image was obtained at a 50-degree phase angle between the spacecraft, asteroid and the sun, and in it, Bennu spans approximately 1,500 pixels in the camera’s field of view. Image by NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

Scott Seckel

Reporter , ASU News

ASU creates network of young scientists in Southeast Asia

Arizona State University is preparing young scientists to improve environmental sustainability, health and economic development through social entrepreneurship.Last year, the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering partnered with the U.S. Department of State to launch the Lower Mekong Initiative Young Scientist Program. The program’s overarching goal is to create a research community of practice i...

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ASU creates network of young scientists in Southeast Asia

February 1, 2019

Arizona State University is preparing young scientists to improve environmental sustainability, health and economic development through social entrepreneurship.

Last year, the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering partnered with the U.S. Department of State to launch the Lower Mekong Initiative Young Scientist Program. The program’s overarching goal is to create a research community of practice in the five Lower Mekong countries: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. three men leaning over plants From left: Bundit Buddhahai from Thailand, Gus from France and Phou Bunthann from Cambodia at the Sangha Project aquaponics farm laboratory in Danang, Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Jose Quiroga Download Full Image

Twenty-four young scientists from Lower Mekong countries, who are enrolled in or have recently completed a graduate program in the fields of water, energy or environmental sustainability, participated in the inaugural cohort. They developed capacity for collaborative research through a four-week thematic exchange program, a two-day scientific symposium and a competition for seed funding.

“With 60 percent of its population under 35 years of age, Southeast Asia is one of the fastest growing economic regions,” said Jose Quiroga, director of the Lower Mekong Initiative Young Scientist Program and associate director of the Fulton Schools Global Outreach and Extended Education. “The goal of this program is to support young scientists in developing a network of like-minded professionals who can use science and engineering to find joint, innovative solutions to common challenges in the region.”

The university has decades of experience in sponsored project implementation in Southeast Asia.

Since 2010, the Fulton Schools have partnered with the U.S. Agency for International Development and Intel Corporation to revolutionize engineering and technical vocational universities as part of the Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program. Additionally, the BUILD-IT Alliance has created a world-class model to advance university autonomy and instructional quality.

ASU also played a critical role in the U.S. Department of State’s Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative, which builds the leadership capabilities and networking of youth in the region.

Participants in the Lower Mekong Initiative Young Scientist Program had the opportunity to attend the program’s first symposium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Dec. 13–14. Photo courtesy of Jose Quiroga

The Lower Mekong Initiative Young Scientist Program is the latest in the university’s continued successes in strengthening ties between the U.S. and Southeast Asia by creating opportunities for collaboration for early career researchers.

“The program is designed to build a regional community of emerging researchers who acquire technical knowledge by focusing on developing their interpersonal skills through team-based activities, classroom discussions, group presentations and applied research fieldwork,” said Jeffrey Goss, the associate vice provost for Southeast Asia programs in the Fulton Schools.

“Participants are challenged to work across disciplines and regional teams and communicate in English to overcome existing language barriers, as they collaborate to identify technical solutions to Lower Mekong issues.”

Site visits and symposium reveal new perspectives

The researchers kicked off the program with a summer exchange experience hosted at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education in Vietnam. The participants attended skill-building workshops and learned how to apply those skills toward research initiatives and technology development to create meaningful impact for the region.

Participants also went on various site visits to further enhance their learning experience. From interacting with locals in Can Tho and the Mekong Delta about irrigation for farming and biogas generation to engaging with two multinational companies about how they’re meeting energy demands in Southeast Asia, participants learned about regional challenges related to water, renewable energy and environmental sustainability.

The exchange program culminated in a trip to Danang, Vietnam, where participants worked on applied projects, developing prototypes for their proposed solutions to transboundary challenges along the Mekong River.

Video courtesy Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering

The first cohort of early career researchers had the opportunity to attend and present posters on their applied projects at the program’s first symposium at the Lotte Legend Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Dec. 13–14.

More than 80 researchers and scientists attended the symposium, representing a wide range of participants from academia, industry, government and environmental advocacy groups from the U.S. and Lower Mekong countries. Top researchers with expertise in water, renewable energy and environmental sustainability networked with the program participants and offered feedback on their projects.

“Through the Lower Mekong Initiative Young Scientist Program, we’re building a network of scientists who devise innovative solutions to cross-border environmental challenges faced by the countries of the Mekong region,” said Deputy Consul General Tim Liston, of the U.S. Consulate, Ho Chi Minh City.

The young scientists’ applied projects included an eco-floating farming system for the Tonlé Sap lake in Cambodia, an app for monitoring energy consumption in homes and a play pump water filtration system for schools in rural areas.

“While their solutions to problems were innovative, the main goal of the program was to teach teams the value of working together across disciplines and countries to accomplish a shared goal," Quiroga said.

man standing at table with five others sitting

The Lower Mekong Initiative fellows participate in a workshop with John Wiley & Sons on the writing and publishing of scientific papers. From left, Vilay Vannaladsaysy from Laos, Attakarn Jansasithorn from Thailand, Chhunleang Rorm from Cambodia, San Hay Mar Shwe from Myanmar, Jirawadee Polprasert from Thailand and Athit Phetrak

from Thailand. Photo courtesy of Jose Quiroga

Athit Phetrak, a program participant and lecturer at Mahidol University, benefited from the diverse collaborations with young scientists and researchers across the country. He had the opportunity to work on several projects to improve drinking water quality with the Thailand Research Fund, the Kurita Foundation, the Ministry of Environment of Japan, the Japan Science and Technology Agency and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Waterworks.

“Due to climate change, there is growing concern about water quality after conventional water treatment in the Lower Mekong River basin … However, conventional water treatment is not always effective for high levels of pollutants,” said Phetrak, who received a doctoral degree in environmental engineering at the University of Tokyo, Japan. “Thus, it’s necessary to develop cost-effective water purification technologies to guarantee drinking water safety in these areas.”

Phetrak will continue his studies this year as a visiting researcher at ASU where he’ll work with Regents' Professor Paul Westerhoff on water and wastewater treatment technologies, such as physicochemical treatment processes.

“The results from this study can provide valuable information in the effective removal of organic and fluoride pollutants and thus subsequently control the formation of disinfection by-products in drinking water,” Phetrak said. “Additionally, the outcomes of this study will be of great help to engineers, scientists, researchers and other people who are working in water remediation and materials preparation.”

Opportunities abound for young researchers

Another goal of the program and symposium was to help participants increase their research outputs and submissions to quality, peer-reviewed journals. At the event, the publishing company John Wiley & Sons, a partner of the Lower Mekong Initiative Young Scientist Program, introduced the Wiley Researcher Academy, an online platform designed to deliver training on writing and publishing across the entire global research community.