The Asteroid Hunter

October 1, 2023

The principal investigator of NASA's OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission, which aims to retrieve an asteroid sample for study, Lauretta introduces readers to a massive asteroid named Bennu. Bennu, which is as big as an aircraft carrier and looms taller than the Empire State Building, has the potential to explain the origins of life on Earth but could also end it; it seems set to collide with Earth on September 24, 2182. With a 75,000-copy first printing. Prepub Alert.

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Starred review from December 1, 2023
An uplifting story of a NASA project to send an unmanned probe to an asteroid with the aim of collecting a soil sample. Lauretta, the mission's principal investigator, shows that this particular asteroid, named Bennu, had important advantages: It was relatively close to Earth, its composition indicated that it could provide clues to the origin of the solar system, and it was as large as an aircraft carrier. Another issue, however, was that astrophysical calculations suggested that at some point in the future--specifically, September 2182--Bennu might "hit the surface of the Earth at a velocity of Mach 36, or 27,000 miles per hour--a freight train crashing into the planet." The chance was only about one in 1,750, but NASA thought that Bennu was worth further investigation. The author tracks the years of planning, testing, and simulations. Building a spacecraft for the two-year journey to Bennu was difficult, but designing for the landing was even harder. Lauretta explains how NASA scientists solved countless problems during the design phase, and the OSIRIS-REx mission took flight in September 2016. when the spacecraft reached the asteroid, however, scientists discovered that Bennu held a few surprises. Far from being a smooth rock, Bennu offered very few possible landing sites, and the pitted surface turned out to be extremely soft. Nevertheless, touchdown was achieved, and a sample was collected. Then it was time for the return journey, and the probe landed in Utah in September 2023. The sample is now being analyzed in every possible way, but Lauretta is certain that the mission itself was entirely successful. The message is that the U.S. government can still complete remarkable projects, a resonant, hopeful conclusion that is much needed in these chaotic times. Lauretta's account of a historic mission is an impressive combination of fascinating science and human inspiration.

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Starred review from January 22, 2024
In this stellar debut memoir, planetary scientist Lauretta details his work as the principal investigator for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, initiated in 2011 to retrieve an asteroid sample that arrived on Earth in September 2023. While working at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Lauretta discovered that schreibersite (a compound “ubiquitous in meteorites”) forms substances critical to life when dissolved in water, suggesting asteroids might hold “the key to understanding the origin of life on Earth.” Invigorated, Lauretta signed on to NASA’s mission to collect a sample from the asteroid Bennu. Recreations of planning sessions between engineers provide captivating insight into the hard work and ingenuity that went into the mission. (Lauretta explains that calculating Bennu’s weak orbit required his team to pioneer a novel way of determining an asteroid’s mass by measuring how much heat it emits.) The author is a talented storyteller, spinning a gripping narrative out of scientists’ efforts to overcome unforeseen obstacles under intense pressure (“Suddenly, I heard a brief gasp of surprise off to my right.... My mouth fell open as I glanced at the scene that appeared on screen,” he writes of learning that “Bennu’s surface had just exploded” for poorly understood reasons). Armchair astronomers should consider this a must read. Photos. Agent: Lauren Sharp, Aevitas Creative Management.

February 9, 2024
Lauretta offers an account of the historic mission to obtain a sample from the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft was launched in September 2016, collected samples from Bennu in 2020, and recently sent the capsule of materials back to Earth. Lauretta's sojourn to the position of NASA leader on this project is a journey worth reading about. He began his academic studies as a math major but had no idea what he wanted to do, until he found his calling with an ad posted in the University of Arizona's student paper for NASA's undergrad research program. He would soon join the SETI program, which would lead to a graduate program at Washington University where he worked on the Mars Observer mission. But his scientific aspirations proved fruitful when he gained approval from NASA many years later for a sample retrieval craft to Bennu. Not without many bumps along the way--including shutdowns due to COVID-19 and the Space-X rocket explosion which nearly destroyed OSIRIS-REx--ultimately the mission was a success. A fascinating book, especially for those who enjoy the details that go into a NASA mission.

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