The asteroid Bennu could hit Earth in 2182 if its orbit is close enough in 2135. It motivated NASA to send a mission to collect some of its matter.

By Alice Andersen – 6th grade.

What would happen if an asteroid struck Earth? These space bodies are still somehow mysterious to us, and tempted NASA to send spacecraft OSIRIS-REx on a stray asteroid. It returned on September 24, 2023, in Utah, near Salt Lake City. Sent on September 8 2016, it was tasked with the quest of taking a sample of an NEO (near earth object). On October 20 2020, NASA Spacecraft, OSIRIS-REx touched down on the surface of the asteroid Bennu, in a sample site called Nightingale. 2 days later, the craft reported having collected at least 2 ounces (60 grams) of dust from Bennu. 

This asteroid was discovered on September 11 1999 by LINEAR (Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research), during a Near Earth Asteroid Survey. Though it is nowhere as near as big as the asteroid that took out the dinosaurs( the Chicxulub asteroid, which was nearly 9 miles wide, and took out 70% of animals on earth) it would affect an area the size of Texas upon impact. Bennu is about a third of a mile wide, and would unleash the energy of 22 atomic bombs. 

Bennu would only hit earth under a specific set of circumstances. The asteroid orbits Earth every six years and has had three close encounters, in 1999, 2005, and 2011. In 2135, Bennu might pass closer to earth than the moon is. If that occurs, there is a chance that it will be pulled into earth’s gravitational pull, which could lead to the collision on September 24 2182. Even though the chance of it actually hitting earth is very slim, only 1 in 2,700 (or 0.037%), the knowledge that an asteroid could hit us is somewhat worrying.