航空宇宙局 lab hopes to find life's building 封鎖するs in asteroid 見本
Scientists at 航空宇宙局's Johnson Space 中心 in Texas will be the first to 扱う 見本s brought 支援する from Bennu, a distant asteroid
Eager scientists and a gleaming lab を待つs.
A 見本 from the asteroid Bennu, which could be 重要な to understanding the 形式 of the solar system and our own 惑星, is 始める，決める to be 分析するd at 航空宇宙局's Johnson Space 中心 in Houston after it reaches Earth in late September.
The precious 貨物 is 現在／一般に 船内に OSIRIS-REx, a US space 調査（する） 開始する，打ち上げるd in 2016 to Bennu, which 軌道s the Sun at an 普通の／平均（する） distance of about 105 million miles (168 million キロメーターs).
Long white sleeves hang from the 抱擁する metal and glass box in which the 見本 will be 扱うd.
Moon 激しく揺するs gathered during the Apollo 使節団s are 陳列する，発揮するd in the Lunar Lab during a マスコミ day hosted by 航空宇宙局
Scientists will separate pieces of the 激しく揺する and dust for 熟考する／考慮する now, while carefully 蓄える／店ing away the 残り／休憩（する） for 未来 世代s equipped with better 科学（工学）技術 -- a practice first started during the Apollo 使節団s to the Moon.
"We don't 推定する／予想する there to be anything living but (rather) the building 封鎖するs of life," Nicole Lunning, lead OSIRIS-Rex 見本 curator, told AFP.
"That's really what 動機づけるd going to this type of asteroid, to understand what the precursors were that may have fostered life in our solar system and on Earth."
Once the return 大型船 arrives at the Texas "cleanroom," Lunning's 職業 will be to carefully disassemble it and separate the contents, all while keeping the 構成要素 pure and uncontaminated.
- Origins of life -
Cosmochemist Eve Berger can't wait to get to work, 調査／捜査するing 激しく揺する and dust 見本s from the asteroid Bennu for 化学製品s that could have seeded life on Earth
The 宇宙船 is scheduled to land in the Utah 砂漠 on September 24, carrying an 概算の 8.8 ounces, or 250 grams of 構成要素 -- just over a cupful.
得るing it 伴う／関わるd a high-危険 操作／手術 in October 2020: the 調査（する） （機の）カム into 接触する with the asteroid for a few seconds, and a 爆破 of compressed 窒素 was emitted to raise the dust 見本 which was then 逮捕（する）d.
The whole 使節団 was imperiled when 航空宇宙局 realized a few days later that the 弁 of the collection compartment was failing to の近くに, letting fragments escape into space.
But the precious 貨物 was finally 安全な・保証するd after 存在 transferred to a 要約する／（宇宙ロケットの）カプセル 直す／買収する，八百長をするd in the 宇宙船's 中心.
The first 見本s brought to Earth by asteroids were carried out by Japanese 調査（する）s in 2010 and 2020, with the latter 設立する to 含む／封じ込める uracil, one of the building 封鎖するs of リボ核酸.
The finding lent 負わせる to a 長年の theory that life on Earth may have been seeded from outer space when asteroids 衝突，墜落d into our 惑星 carrying 根底となる elements.
The robotic arm of 航空宇宙局's OSIRIS-REx 宇宙船 makes 接触する with the surface of asteroid Bennu, as seen on an October 2020 ビデオ broadcast
Cosmochemist Eve Berger can't wait to get to work on the Bennu 構成要素.
"These 見本s 港／避難所't 攻撃する，衝突する the Earth. They 港／避難所't been exposed to our atmosphere. They 港／避難所't been exposed to really anything except 厳しい space for billions of years," she said.
最終的に they "will help us to 決定する whether what we really think is true, is true," said Berger.
Not only might the Bennu 見本 追加する to our knowledge of the 成分s that brought life to our world, but "if we can 人物／姿／数字 out what happened here on the Earth, that helps us to extrapolate to other 団体／死体s where we might look or how we might 解釈する／通訳する what we're seeing," she 追加するd.
Engineers rehearse the 回復 操作／手術s for the OSIRIS-REx 見本 return ahead of its 推定する／予想するd September 2023 touchdown
Could Bennu bring 支援する something that's never been seen before? "You never know," said Berger.
"Bennu is a trickster, so we'll know more in a few months when the 見本 comes 支援する -- that would be exciting!"
