INFRARED sensors made in Southampton are travelling through deep space on a mission to learn more about a potentially hazardous asteroid heading for Earth.
The asteroid Bennu has a one in 3,000 chance – considered “relatively high” – of hitting Earth in the late 22nd century.
Present day scientists want to do all they can for future generations by understanding the physical and chemical properties of the asteroid, which was formed some two billion years ago.
The infrared detectors for the mission were made by the Southampton factory of aerospace engineering company Leonardo. The sensors were picked by Arizona State University (ASU) for its OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES) instrument, which has been vital to the mission.