As we all may know by now, asteroids could be the key to unlocking the mystery that is life on Earth. To astronomers, all asteroids are important. But there's one asteroid in particular that has caught their

eye— Bennu. 

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In fact, on September 2016, a spacecraft was launched—OSIRIS-REx—to get a sample from Bennu. How do they plan on doing this? Well, astronomers and scientists have conducted many investigations and released new technology to have a successful operation. They're going to use a new system called TAGSAM— Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism. This system consists of touching the surface of Bennu, gathering the needed data and pulling away, all in the course of five seconds. There have been many updates on this mission up to date, one of them being a snapshot of Bennu, as seen below.

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Now, you may think to yourself, "Hey, maybe Bennu isn´t so dangerous like everyone´s saying!" Don´t be fooled by how tiny it looks in the snapshot. Despite its size, Bennu can cause major damage. It has higher chances of impacting Earth than any other asteroid out there, which is why it is extremely important to obtain samples from Bennu before it hits Earth. Even though Bennu is smaller than the asteroid that wiped out dinosaurs from Earth, it can still destroy an entire country! Its pieces will fall like bullets from the sky, causing tidal waves if it were to hit the ocean, making this asteroid one of the most hazardous objects in the Solar System.

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