Sir Brian May reveals he played vital role in NASA asteroid mission

The Queen guitarist shared what the mission meant to him ahead of the capsules landing.

Sir Brian May played a vital role in deciding the location for collecting rocks in the asteroid Bennu mission.

After a seven-year voyage, the capsule containing a 'cupful' of rubble which was collected from the asteroid Bennu parachuted into the Utah desert on Sunday.

The Queen guitarist - who earned a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College London in 2007 - spoke of his "immense pride" in his involvement with the mission.

NASA's first asteroid samples land on Earth after release from spacecraft

The mothership. Osiris-Rex, blasted off on the $1 billion mission in 2016, arriving two years later and spending a further two years surveying the rock.

During that time, Sir Brian helped to identify a shortlist of sites on the Bennu asteroid where the capsule could land.

In a message broadcasted on NASA TV, Sir Brian said: "Hello Nasa folks, space fans, asteroid aficionados, this is Brian May of Queen but also I'm immensely proud to be a team member of Osiris-Rex.

"I can't be with you today, I wish I could, I'm rehearsing for a Queen tour, but my heart is there with you as this precious sample is recovered.

"Happy sample return day and congratulations to all who worked so incredibly hard on this mission."

In this image from video released by Nasa, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft touches the surface of asteroid Bennu on October 20, 2020 Credit: Nasa via AP/PA

Nasa will release a quarter of the sample to a group of more than 200 people from more than 35 globally distributed institutions, including a team of scientists from The University of Manchester, and the Natural History Museum.

Asteroid Bennu is a 4.5-billion-year-old remnant of our early solar system and scientists believe it can help shed light on how planets formed and evolved.

Experts say the carbon-rich, near-Earth asteroid serves as a time capsule from the earliest history of the solar system.

It is anticipated the sample will provide important clues that could help us to understand the origin of organics and water that may have led to life on Earth.