NASA is planning to send an unmanned probe, OSIRIS-Rex, that will interecept the asteroid, collect a sample, and come back to earth.
A high-tech Canadian 3D laser will be aboard to map the asteroid. This will later be used to select a landing site to collect the sample.
The laser, under development, is called the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA).
York University researcher Mike Daly, deputy principal investigator for the OLA team, said he thinks as a result of the mission, “we’re going to learn things about these asteroids that we never, ever expected to learn.”
Former Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield told CBC news, it will be a challenging task as the asteroid, about 500m in diameter, is constantly rotating.
Bennu is a carbon-rich asteroid made up of material that is thought to be left over from the formation of the solar system and its rocky planets.
The NASA mission will launch in 2015, reach Bennu in 2018, and return to earth in 2023
Canada will contribute $61 million to the mission over the next 15 years, which includes $9 million to MacDonald, Dettwiller and Associates Ltd to build the laser in association with several scientists from the university of British Columbia, University of Toronto, and University of Winnipeg
(with files from CBC).
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