NASA has spent seven years trying to prevent Bennu — an asteroid taller than the Empire State Building and named after ancient Egypt‘s fiery bird-god — from crashing cataclysmically into Earth.

While Bennu’s chances of impact are just 1-in-2,700, more than five times a person’s chance of being struck by lightning, NASA’s team nevertheless has categorized it as one of the two ‘most hazardous known asteroids.’

In a worst-case scenario, the roughly 510-meter wide, carbon-based behemoth would smash into Earth with 1,200 megatons of energy: 24 times the power of the largest nuclear bomb ever detonated (the Soviet Union’s ‘Tsar Bomba‘).

If it happens, Bennu’s impact would unleash its 1.2 gigaton impact 159 years from this Sunday, on September 24, 2182.

While Bennu is nowhere near the size of the dino-killing, six-mile across space rock that hit the Yucatan 66 million years ago, astronomers believe that the asteroid ‘could cause continental devastation if it became an Earth impactor.’

When NASA dispatched its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft for a rendezvous with the asteroid on September 8, 2016, part of its mission was to trail Bennu for two years from 2018 to 2020 collecting data to better calculate its future path. 

‘We improved our knowledge of Bennu’s trajectory by a factor of 20,’ Davide Farnocchia of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory told the journal Science.

Provided humanity lasts that long, NASA will conduct its final risk calculations on Bennu’s orbit during its next near-Earth pass in 2135 – about 47 years before its potential impact.  

‘In 2135, we’ll know for sure,’ Farnocchia said.

In the meantime, Bennu, not unlike its namesake god of creation and rebirth, also has something to tell us about the birth of our solar system.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx went to Bennu equipped with the tools to map the ancient asteroid, a sort of time capsule of the early solar system, and collect rare samples of this nearly untouched material.

This Sunday, the OSIRIS-REx will drop a payload of 8.8 ounces (250 grams) from its Bennu mission back down to Earth, as the probe skates past approximately 485 miles above our planet’s surface toward its next asteroid rendezvous mission.  

‘This is pure untainted material revealing early solar system secrets,’ astrophysicist Hakeem Oluyesi of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory told ABC News about the samples.   

‘A longshot discovery would be finding biological molecules or even precursor molecules for life,’ according to Oluyesi.

OSIRIS-REx was not only the US space agency’s first-ever asteroid sample collection run.

It is now poised to also become the largest-ever asteroid-sampling mission, besting Japanese space agency JAXA’s collection of 5.4 grams from the asteroid Ryugu in 2020.

But OSIRIS-REx’s mission is still days away from successful completion. 

‘It feels very much like the last few miles of a marathon,’ said Rich Burns, the OSIRIS-REx project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. 

‘A confluence of emotions like pride and joy, coexisting with a determined focus to complete the race well.’

After careening across 63,000 miles of our solar system, and now hurtling towards Earth at a breakneck 28,000 mph, OSIRIS-REx will release its capsule of samples at approximately 4:42 AM Mountain Time (10:42 AM UTC) over Utah. 

The capsule, about the size of a mini-fridge and prepared to withstand friction temperatures twice as hot as molten magma, will be slowed in its descent to Utah’s Great Salt Lake Desert by parachutes. 

Researchers plan to recover the samples from a pre-planned 36-mile by 8.5-mile area on the Pentagon’s Utah Test and Training Range southwest of Salt Lake City. 

Touchdown is expect at a little before 9:00 AM Mountain Time.

All the data collected by the OSIRIS-REx will help in future efforts to deflect Bennu in the event of a worst case scenario. 

But planetary scientist Lindley Johnson of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office believes such a dire case is unlikely.

‘I don’t think we need to do anything about Bennu,’ as Johnson told Science.

‘This data set [from OSIRIS-REx] will be enormously valuable in assessing deflection technologies,’ according to Johnson who believes that the nearly 50-year window between 2135 and 2182 will be plenty of time to mount an Armageddon-style deflection mission.

Nonetheless, if Bennu were to impact Earth, it would be similar to an explosion of more than 1.1 billion tons of TNT. 

Kelly Fast, program manager for the Near-Earth Object Observations Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a statement: ‘NASA’s Planetary Defense mission is to find and monitor asteroids and comets that can come near Earth and may pose a hazard to our planet. 

‘We carry out this endeavor through continuing astronomical surveys that collect data to discover previously unknown objects and refine our orbital models for them.

‘The OSIRIS-REx mission has provided an extraordinary opportunity to refine and test these models, helping us better predict where Bennu will be when it makes its close approach to Earth more than a century from now.’

NASA last updated its estimates of the planetary risks posed by Bennu in November 2021, with a paper entitled ‘Ephemeris and hazard assessment for near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu based on OSIRIS-REx data,’ published in the journal Icarus.  

While there is a slight chance Bennu will collide with Earth over the next three centuries, the space agency notes there is more than a 99.9 percent probability it will not. 

Back in 2020, NASA unveiled stunning videos and images showing the moment the spacecraft pulled off its six-second touch-and-go (TAG) mission where it bounced off the Bennu’s surface and picked up samples along the way.

Once completed Sunday, the triumphant $1.16 billion mission will be the first American effort to take a sample from an asteroid with the hopes to unlock secrets about the origin of life on Earth.

NASA’s October 2020 images show how the spacecraft descended within three feet of the target landing spot dubbed Nightingale on the asteroid while avoiding boulders the size of buildings. 

Upon contact, the spacecraft’s 11-foot robotic arm can then be seen smashing some porous rock upon initial impact with the surface.

A nitrogen gas bottle then fired on the surface to stir up material and suck it up in a ‘rubble shower’.

The spacecraft spent five seconds of the six seconds on Bennu collecting the material before backing away, with a majority of the sample collected in the first three seconds.

Three years later, fruits of those six seconds, a smaller safer piece of Bennu will finally collide gently with Earth. 

How a pandemic tax break for small businesses – which has already cost taxpayers billions – has turned into a ‘modern gold rush’ thanks to consultancy firm plugged by Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary

• Employee Retention Credit was created as an emergency response to lockdown
• Relief expired in late 2021 but businesses have until April 2025 to file a claim
• Firm Bottom Line Concepts – plugged by O’Leary – charges 15-25% fees to help business receive a payout

By Helena Kelly Consumer Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Updated: 08:19 EDT, 6 September 2023

A globe-trotting mum has found a way to fit a week’s worth of clothes into a single carry-on rucksack – and she’s convinced her packing method will help travellers save ‘hundreds’ on ‘extortionate’ airline baggage fees.

Jenna Carr, who goes by the name ‘The Travel Mum’ on TikTok, shared a video online that shows her squeezing everything from holiday outfits to cosmetics and footwear into a small blue backpack ahead of a recent family getaway, saving her from paying for extra baggage.

‘Budget airlines allow you to bring a free “personal item” on board,’ the 33-year-old explains, adding: ‘Each passenger, including children, gets their own rucksack.’

The mum of one, from Worksop, Nottinghamshire, says: ‘Over time the hundreds of pounds you save on luggage really adds up. By making a few changes to how we travel as a family we’ve been able to travel so much more.’

The footage – which has garnered more than 31,000 views – shows Jenna gesturing to a small backpack and noting: ‘We’re going to use a vacuum bag to get double the amount of clothes in there.’

Jenna reveals she vacuums air from the plastic sealed bag once it’s placed inside the backpack, so it moulds to the shape of the rucksack.

In the clip, Jenna – who worked as an NHS doctor before leaving her medical career behind to become a full-time content creator – remarks that thanks to the vacuum packing trick, she still has ‘a lot more space’ to fit extra items into her backpack. 

Next, she explains how she wears her ‘bulkier’ shoes on the plane and wraps her smaller shoes – such as sandals – in cling film to keep everything else in her bag clean.

Jenna, who has 367,000 TikTok followers and counting, then reveals she puts underwear in a zip-seal freezer bag which can also be reduced in size using a vacuum. She uses the freezer bags as a ‘place to put used underwear’ during the trip, she reveals.

When one user wondered whether she finds her clothes get quite creased after they’ve been vacuum-packed, she replied: ‘It depends on the material, most things survive it pretty well.’

Her next tip? ‘Food bags are great for keeping things organised,’ Jenna says. She explains how she likes to put her jewellery and her non-liquid makeup – which doesn’t need to be removed from her bag at security – into plastic food bags to keep them separate.

Next, she demonstrates how she uses refillable travel perfume bottles to take her perfume with her on her trips. 

She says: ‘I only take liquids that would be too expensive to buy when I get there.’

Her final trick? She puts her laptop and liquids in WHSmith carrier bags, explaining: ‘When I’m boarding the plane, it just looks like I’ve been shopping.’

Plastic carrier bags from shops within the airport don’t count as carry-on luggage, Jenna explains.

The reaction from her followers was a positive one, with ‘user0957747756’ writing: ‘WHSmith bag is such a good tip!’

And user ‘Shouldaknownbetta’ declared that the hacks are ‘amazing’.

Footy hall of fame star makes a small fortune from the $450million sale of popular tanning brand Bondi Sands to a Japanese beauty firm

• Former player invested in son’s company 
• Had to weather some early problems with the brand 
• Is now laughing all the way to the bank 

By Josh Alston For Daily Mail Australia

Updated: 02:05 EDT, 4 August 2023

Forget Thames Water, the real boardroom drama this week was at the cosmetics small-cap Revolution Beauty. 

Online retailer and 26.6 per cent Revolution shareholder Boohoo has tried to wrest control of the AIM-listed company through a hostile takeover and ousting of Revolution’s board.

This came to a head at Wednesday’s annual general meeting, when a shareholder showdown saw chief executive Bob Holt, chief financial officer Elizabeth Lake, and chair Derek Zissman voted out.

Non-executive director Jeremy Schwartz briefly became the sole board member. His first responsibility under the company’s articles of association was to hire three more members.

After brief contemplation, he selected Bob Holt as chief executive, Elizabeth Lake as chief financial officer, and Derek Zissman as chair. Fancy that.

Revolution and Boohoo have exchanged vitriolic words all week, accusing each other of being self-serving.

As we all know, investors hate instability, yet Revolution’s share price rocketed 53 per cent higher on Wednesday, though that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Shares were actually suspended since September 2022 for failing to publish company accounts amid Minto’s contentious departure.

Come Friday, as the tumultuous week comes to a close, Revolution shares remained 26 per cent higher since Wednesday’s readmission.

The same can’t be said for the broader Aim All-Share Index, which ended the week around 2 per cent lower at 751.84, underperforming considerably against the FTSE 100 index’s 0.8 per cent add.

The gap would likely have been wider if the blue-chip utility segment didn’t cop a beating, with Severn Trent, United Utilities and BT Group among the worst large-cap performers. It appears that Thames Water is causing contamination in more ways than one.

That stocks underperformed this week is hardly a surprise, what with last week’s bruising half-a-percentage point interest rate hike, though with income stocks out of favour on the premium segment, some pass through to the lower end of the market could have been assumed.

Speaking of which, Caspian Sunrise, the AIM-quoted Kazakhstan-focused oiler, took a 30 per cent beating on Friday after scrapping its dividend payment for the foreseeable future.

The group has found itself the unintended victim of the Ukraine conflict insomuch as it has layered in additional costs and, crucially, copped an $18million loss of revenue. Shares fell from 4.3p to 2.82p.

African phosphate producer Kropz‘s shares also plunged over 40 per cent after revealing that its shares will be suspended from trading on AIM after failing to publish its annual reports.

The same fate beset Trackwise Designs, with shares in the printed circuit technology manufacturer crashing 70 per cent failing to provide financial statements for the last financial year.

Trackwise said manufacturing delays and ‘intense demands upon the entire management team’ have caused delays in the financial auditing process’. Shares have now been suspended.

Outside of the heavy industries, video game group tinyBuild plummeted 70 per cent after the firm said its first-half performance had undershot expectations.

tinyBuild pinned the blame on the underperformance of two acquisitions- US publisher Versus Evil and Brazil-based developer Red Cerberus.

On the bullish side was banknote printer De La Rue, which shot up over 50 per cent following indications of a recovery in currency demand and a robust performance in its authentication business, particularly in the latter half of the year.

This marks a turnaround from April, when the Basingstoke-based group dished out a profit warning.

Renalytix was a top mover In the pharmaceuticals segment, closing the week 44 per cent higher on the back of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granting marketing authorisation for its KidneyIntelX.dkd prognostic test.

Prospex Energy was a top riser in the energy sector, gaining 10 per cent after bullish news emerged from its Italy-based gas field.

But the real energy stand out was Invinity Energy Systems, which added nearly 40 per cent in what can only be considered a vindication of its full-year trading statement published on Wednesday.

To read more small-cap news click here www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk