Pieces of the asteroid Bennu, collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, are being studied at Brown as part of an effort to better understand the solar system’s early history and the origins of materials necessary for life on Earth.
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Department of Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences
Takahiro Hiroi
Senior Research Scientist, Spectroscopy Specialist
Lincoln Field, Room 322
MacMillan Hall, Room 102C
MacMillan Hall, Room 102C
Research Interests
Planetary Geoscience
Faculty Partner
Ralph Milliken
Recent News
NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security–Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission is returning to Earth carrying an estimated 250 grams (8.8 ounces) of material gathered from the surface of an asteroid. Takahiro Hiroi, DEEPS Senior Research Scientist and Spectroscopy Specialist, shared his optimism for the mission, saying, “Returned samples can additionally [preserve] microscopic, including nanophase, materials that can be evidence of space weathering or shock events, most elements and isotopes, grain density, [and] material strength.”
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A new paper co-authored by Associate Professor Ralph Milliken and Senior Research Scientist Takahiro Hiroi examines the Formation and evolution of carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu using samples returned by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft (JAXA mission). DEEPS alumn Seiji Sugita also contributed to the research.
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