In today’s Bulldog wrapup of science and technology news:

  • NASA is going to chase asteroid, see samples
  • LG unveils new phone with latest Android software
  • Michigan may allow self-driving car tests without humans
  • GE acquires two 3-D printing companies.

The details:

  • NASA chasing down asteroid to scoop up, bring back samples

NASA is going after an asteroid this week like never before.

It’s launching a spacecraft to the exotic black rock named Bennu, vacuuming up handfuls of gravel from the surface, and then in a grand finale, delivering the pay dirt all the way back to Earth.

The mission will take seven years, from Thursday night’s planned liftoff from Cape Canaveral to the return of the asteroid samples in 2023, and cover an incredible 4 billion miles (6 ½ billion kilometers) through space.

It promises to be the biggest cosmic bounty since the Apollo moon rocks, hand-picked and delivered by astronauts in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

NASA has already brought back comet dust and specks of solar wind. And Japan already did it at an asteroid a decade ago, and is en route to a second space rock encounter. But we’re talking tiny grains in these cases.

NASA’s robotic asteroid hunter, Osiris-Rex, is designed to scoop up pebbles and rock the size of gravel — anywhere from one to four or even five handfuls in a single swipe.

“We are going out to explore an unknown world,” said principal scientist Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona at Tucson. “We’re going to map it in great detail. It will be the most well characterized asteroid in our solar system by the time we’re through with it.”

Thanks to observations from the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes and ground observatories, scientists already know the roundish Bennu (BEN’-oo) is about 1,600 feet (487 meters) across at its bulging middle and the color of coal, indicative of carbon richness. It’s believed to have formed 4.5 billion years ago, a remnant of the solar system’s building blocks. As such, it may still hold clues as to the origin of life on Earth and, possibly, elsewhere in the solar system.

The name Bennu comes from the heron of Egyptian mythology. Osiris was an Egyptian god; Osiris-Rex is an acronym for origins, spectral interpretation, resource identification, security-regolith explorer.

  • VIDEO: Watch a BBC video about the chase at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWT7sz7LBUk

There’s also a practical side to the more than $800 million mission: planetary defense.

Bennu is one of many near-Earth asteroids that occasionally cross paths with our planet. The more scientists know about these potentially hazardous rocks, the better the chance of tracking them and, worst comes to worst, bracing for them.

Bennu wouldn’t obliterate Earth or wipe out life, just carve out a huge crater. Lauretta said the odds of a direct hit by Bennu are low — less than one-tenth of 1 percent — and not until about 150 years from now.

“So I like to say, ‘Don’t run out and buy asteroid insurance tonight, you’re not going to need it,’ ” Lauretta said.

  • LG unveils the first phone to ship with Google’s new Android

LG is unveiling the first phone to ship withGoogle’s new Android Nougat software, in hopes of appealing to people who like to take and share photos and video.

The new V20 phone comes on the eve of a San Francisco event where Apple is expected to launch new iPhones.

Nougat is already available as a free upgrade on some Google phones under the Nexus brand. The V20 would be the first with Nougat already installed. Other phones aren’t likely to get Nougat for a while because individual phone makers and wireless carriers have to tweak and test the new software first.

Many of the Android improvements in Nougat are “under the hood” and thus largely invisible, such as tweaks to reduce battery consumption and cellular data use.

The most obvious changes include the ability to run two apps side by side, something Samsung and LG have offered on their phones on a limited basis. Nougat will also let people reply to messages within notifications, something Apple already offers on iPhones.

Meanwhile, the V20 promises higher-quality audio playback and recording, with reduced background noise, according to LG. The company also says it also improved image stabilization when recording video. LG spokesman Frank Lee described the V20’s target audience as “storytellers.”

Like LG’s G5 phone, which it released in April, the V20 will have two lenses on the main camera — one for regular pictures and one with a wide angle to capture more of the scene. Unlike many other top-line phones, the V20 features a replaceable battery.

  • Michigan may not require a human in self-driving test cars

Michigan would no longer require that someone be inside a self-driving car while testing it on public roads under bills up for a vote in the Legislature.

The change is expected to win Senate approval Wednesday and likely reach Gov. Rick Snyder’s desk within months.

The legislation is designed to keep the U.S. auto industry’s home state ahead of the curve on autonomous vehicles.

A researcher wouldn’t have to be present in a self-driving test car. But he or she would be required to “promptly” take control of its movements if necessary.

The bills also would authorize the public operation of driverless cars and tight “platoons” of commercial trucks to travel in unison at electronically coordinated speeds.

  • GE ups its digital game, snaring two 3-D printing companies

General Electric is continuing its push into the digital realm, spending $1.4 billion to acquire two European 3-D printing companies.

At the same time, it’s upping its old-school manufacturing capabilities with technology that will allow it to quickly punch out components for the automotive, airline and health industries at the whim of any client.

The Fairfield, Connecticut company said Tuesday that it expects the acquisition of Arcam AB and SLM Solutions Group AB to boost revenue within its 3-D printing business to $1 billion by 2020.