Seven years after it launched, NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security – Regolith Explorer) came to a dramatic and triumphant conclusion today as its sample return capsule safely parachuted into the Utah desert.

The capsule contains an estimated 250 grams of pristine, 4.5-billion-year-old rock and dust collected from the surface of Asteroid Bennu. This material is effectively a perfectly preserved time capsule from the very dawn of our solar system, packed with carbon and water-bearing minerals. The scientific community is going to be analysing this precious extraterrestrial dirt for generations to understand the building blocks of planetary formation and the origins of life.