Inside a special set-up at the Johnson Space Center, NASA scientists opened the capsule of the OSIRIS-REx mission that arrived on Earth last Sunday after seven years, carrying a sample from the unexplored asteroid Bennu – the largest collection of space material from a planet other than the Moon.

According to the US space agency, scientists opening the lid of the capsule found “black dust and debris the size of grains of sand”.

bennu capsule

The capsule container of the main material – about 250 grams – that the mission collected from the asteroid has not yet been opened, so scientists are focusing on the “mysterious” black dust.

NASA said the material would be subjected to a “rapid analysis” to see what exactly it is, without further explanation.

On October 11, NASA will broadcast live the opening of the container and the unveiling of the precious stellar sample.

However, speaking to MailOnline, Dr Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University in Canberra, said the fine dust is also likely material from the asteroid.

The same opinion was expressed by Professor Trevor Ireland, a geochemist at the University of Queensland. “Under microgravity there’s nothing to stop the dust going everywhere, and it probably got into the spacecraft,” he told MailOnline.

bennu capsule

Engineers estimate that the 250 grams of material from Bennu – which is likely to hit Earth in 2182 – will help scientists better understand how Earth and life formed.

Bennu is listed as a B-type asteroid, meaning it has a lot of carbon along with its other materials. It is an asteroid whose surface reflects about 4% of the light that falls on it, and which has not undergone many changes in its composition – which in turn means that it has chemicals and rocks from the time of our solar system’s genesis.