4/4: The Asteroid Hunter: A Scientist’s Journey to the Dawn of our Solar System Hardcover – March 19, 2024 by Dante Lauretta (Author)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 18 May 2024
⏱️ 6 minutes
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Summary
https://www.amazon.com/Asteroid-Hunter-Scientists-Journey-System/dp/1538722941
On September 11, 1999, humanity made a monumental discovery in the vastness of space. Scientists uncovered an asteroid of immense scientific importance—a colossal celestial entity. As massive as an aircraft carrier and towering as high as the iconic Empire State Building, this cosmic titan was later named Bennu. Remarkable for much more than its size, Bennu belonged to a rare breed of asteroids capable of revealing the essence of life itself. But just as Bennu became a beacon of promise, researchers identified a grave danger. Hurtling through space, it threatens to collide with our planet on September 24, 2182.
Leading the expedition was Dr. Dante Lauretta, the Principal Investigator of NASA's audacious OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission. Tasked with unraveling Bennu's mysteries, his team embarked on a daring quest to retrieve a precious sample from the asteroid's surface — one that held the potential to not only unlock the secrets of life's origins but also to avert an unprecedented catastrophe.
A tale of destiny and danger, The Asteroid Hunter chronicles the high-stakes mission firsthand, narrated by Dr. Lauretta. It offers readers an intimate glimpse into the riveting exploits of the mission and Dr. Lauretta's wild, winding personal journey to Bennu and back. Peeling back the curtain on the wonders of the cosmos, this enthralling account promises a rare glimpse into the tightly woven fabric of scientific exploration, where technical precision converges with humanity’s profound curiosity and indominable spirit
undated asteroid groups
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm John Batch with Dante Lorette. |
| 0:07.0 | His new book is The asteroid Hunter, a scientist's journey to the dawn of our solar system. |
| 0:12.0 | We're waiting for the reentry of the sample |
| 0:15.5 | collection. It's going to reenter like the early days of the Apollo program. You'll |
| 0:21.2 | see a shoot open and it'll drift down and you'll pick it up just perfectly. |
| 0:25.8 | You know, the Navy SEALs will go over the edge of the helicopter and everybody will be happy. |
| 0:30.5 | Well, Dante, you're out there in helicopters chasing this except for instead of the |
| 0:36.8 | ocean you're using your desert, the desert you're so familiar with. And everything is going according to plan. |
| 0:44.0 | Osiris Rex drops off the sample return. |
| 0:47.0 | It blazes through the atmosphere, it teachheels work, and then, where's the drug shoot? |
| 0:52.0 | What happens? Right. work and then where's the drug shoot what happens right at that moment I'm in a |
| 0:55.5 | helicopter and we're heading out to the Utah test and training range which is a |
| 0:59.4 | Department of Defense facility that's the largest continuously controlled airspace in the |
| 1:04.0 | continental United States so it's a nice place to bring in a capsule from outer space |
| 1:07.9 | and it's a wide open salt flat out there so plenty of flat ground to land on and I know down to the second when these |
| 1:15.9 | events are supposed to occur and after we go through the hypersonic regime a small |
| 1:22.0 | parachute called a drogue shoot is supposed to come out and stabilize |
| 1:25.8 | the capsule's flight as it transitions into the subsonic regime. |
| 1:29.9 | That's supposed to happen at 100,000 feet of altitude. |
| 1:32.6 | And all I can do is listen. |
| 1:34.1 | I've got my headphones on, I'm in the backseat of the helicopter, |
| 1:36.7 | and I can hear the range control officer reading out |
... |
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