Thanks to NASA’s Osiris-Rex probe, scientists have a better idea of Asteroid Bennu’s likely trajectory.
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After what’s been a challenging couple of years for many on planet Earth, NASA announcing that they’re raising the odds of an Asteroid crashing into us is probably not going to make for welcome news.
But fear not. While the probability of a strike over the next century or two has risen from 1 in 2,700 to 1 in 1,750, those remain reassuringly low odds.
The adjusted odds are based on data amassed by NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft, which has been probing the asteroid since 2018.
In October of last year, the spacecraft successfully landed on the surface and before beginning its return voyage to Earth with rock samples taken from Bennu’s surface.
The spacecraft collected enough data over two and a half years to help scientists better predict the asteroid's orbital path well into the future.
The findings should also help in charting the course of other asteroids which will give Earth a fighting chance if and when another hazardous space rock heads our way.
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