US space agency NASA’s space shuttle found signs of water on the asteroid Bennu. In September 2016, NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REX) mission was released to collect samples from the asteroid.
Data from two spectrometers of spacecraft, OSIRIS-ARIX Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (OVIRS) and OSIRIS-REX Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES), have been told about the presence of molecules in which oxygen and hydrogen atoms are tied together, Which is called hydroxyl.
This hydroxyl group is present in the water-bearing clay minerals on the asteroid, which means that at some point the cliffs of Bennu have been exposed to water. NASA said in a statement on Monday that Bennu is too small for the presence of water, but this discovery shows that at some point there was water on Bennu’s parent body, which was a huge asteroid.
Emmy Simon of Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, Maryland, NASA said, “The presence of minerals that absorb water on the asteroid confirms that Bennu is an excellent sample for our study.”