Nasa delivers samples of Bennu to UK

US space agency Nasa has delivered fragments of what it calls the most dangerous rock in the solar system. 

The tiny pieces of rock and dust from the object known as Bennu will be studied and tested by the Natural History Museum, and the Open, Manchester and Oxford universities. 

NHM’s Prof Sara Russell said the donation is small but ample. 

The sample was scooped up from the surface of 500m-wide asteroid Bennu in 2020 by Nasa’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft, and then delivered by capsule to the Utah desert two months ago.

Nasa wants to learn more about the mountainous object, not least because it has an outside chance of hitting our planet in the next 300 years. 

Beyond this, the sample will likely provide fresh insights into the formation of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago.