X-ray computed tomography (XCT) scans of particles from asteroid Bennu. They show the most common types of crack networks observed in Bennu samples. One has an extensive and connect framework of curved cracks, whereas the other has sparse, straight and flat fractures. (Image credit: NASA/Scott Eckley)
NASA has used advanced imaging techniques to peer inside samples of an asteroid, discovering extensive networks of cracks running throughout the rock particles.
What is it?
These images show two different views of two small rock particles NASA’s OSIRIS-REx probe collected from asteroid Bennu. NASA has been peering inside the samples using X-ray computed tomography (XCT), a special type of imaging that can reveal the interiors of objects without damaging them.
These scans have revealed that the samples contain networks of fine cracks. Scientists can now use this discovery to understand why Bennu appears to have such low thermal inertia, meaning its surface heats up and cools down rapidly as different faces of the asteroid rotate in and out of sunlight.
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One theory to explain this feature of Bennu was that the object might be more porous than telescopic observations of its boulder-strewn surface suggested. However, scientists needed a detailed analysis of the asteroid samples to confirm this theory  —  and that’s what they just got.
“It turns out that they’re really cracked too, and that was the missing piece of the puzzle,” said Andrew Ryan, who led the OSIRIS-REx sample physical and thermal analysis working group, in a NASA statement.
Scott Eckley, X-ray scientist within NASA Johnson Space Center’s Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES), demonstrates the process for placing a container holding a piece of asteroid material in an X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) machine. (Image credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz)Why is it amazing?
These images offer a rare look inside a piece of the early solar system. This study could help scientists better predict the structures of asteroids based on the thermal properties we can observe from Earth using telescopes and other instruments — in other words, without needing to collect physical samples.
In September 2023, NASA returned samples of asteroid Bennu collected by the historic OSIRIS-REx mission. The samples landed in the Utah desert after OSIRIS-REx made a 4-billion-mile (6.2-billion-kilometer) journey from Earth to Bennu and back again.
NASA has been studying the Bennu samples, and has already discovered that they contain amino acids — some of the “building blocks” of life as we know it — and appear to be older than our own solar system.