The Asteroid Hunter
A Scientist's Journey to the Dawn of our Solar System
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
FEATURED IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, NPR’S SCIENCE FRIDAY, THE WASHINGTON POST, AND SCIENCE MAGAZINE
A “brilliant account of a 21st century real-life fantasy” (Sir Brian May) of space exploration and a lesson in fragility in the quest to return an asteroid sample and unlock the mystery of formation of life on earth, braided with the remarkable life story of the OSIRIS-REx mission leader, Dr. Dante Lauretta.
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
You probably don’t know how fascinating the Bennu asteroid is—but Dr. Dante Lauretta does, and he explains it all in this riveting science read. It turns out there’s a chance that the Bennu asteroid might slam into our planet sometime in the 22nd century, causing widespread death and destruction. So, as the leader of the team tasked with studying Bennu, Lauretta walks us through the process of trying to study it, complete with all the scientific and monetary challenges of taking on a massive space mission. We felt like we were on the ride right alongside him, holding our breath as his team at NASA made the game-changing breakthrough of landing a vessel on the surface of the asteroid to take samples. Who needs science fiction when reality is this riveting?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
