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.

Leonardo’s principal systems engineer Raman Mistry said: “Even before OSIRIS-REx had reached the asteroid, particles were seen from the surface which was a total surprise to the joint NASA and ASU teams. So was the rugged terrain, which was against all predictions and made the pick-up of material particularly challenging.

“This event was watched live by millions of people worldwide, through internet web on NASA television, so it was a bit like the first landing on the surface of the moon.

“When you are involved in producing technology for space exploration, it adds so much excitement to your work because you are dealing with such epic proportions of travel and sensor detection. We are massively proud to be supporting ASU in their efforts to break new frontiers of space exploration.”

Leonardo’s sensors allow the OTES to detect minerals on the surface of the asteroid, while gathering thermal data. This has enabled scientists to better understand the composition of Bennu.

The OSIRIS-REx satellite, fitted with Leonardo’s sensors, reached Bennu last October, after travelling 1.8billion kilometres (1.1billion miles) through space.

It was guided by the Autonomous Star-Tracker navigation device produced by Leonardo in Italy.

OSIRIS-REx carried out a Touch And Go (TAG) event where a probe mechanism reached out to Bennu’s surface and gathered 60g of material.

The satellite collected samples from the surface of the asteroid and is currently waiting for proper orbital alignment before beginning its journey back to Earth in the spring, arriving on Earth in 2023. Scientists will be able to analyse its composition, history, and the presence of minerals or organic materials to help understand the origins of life on Earth.

OSIRIS-Rex launched on September 8, 2016, from Cape Canaveral in Florida, as part of NASA’s new frontiers programme, and the space agency’s first mission to an asteroid. Leonardo’s Southampton team worked in collaboration with ASU’s Science team two years to design and develop precision detectors.

Greg Mehall, ASU team leader for sensors, said: “We are very happy with the successful mapping and sampling of Bennu on the OSIRIS-REx mission. Our OTES instrument performed very well throughout the mapping phase prior to the sampling. The Leonardo detector worked splendidly.”

ASU attached a nameplate of the Southampton team members’ signatures to the instrument.