Osiris-Rex is shipping at least a kilogram of rock dust samples from the 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid Bennu, ready to be brought back to Earth next year.
NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft successfully picked up rock dust from asteroid Bennu last week, but scientists quickly realized that the ship’s robotic arm is collecting so much material that its valves cannot close. . compaction, leading to part of the sample flying in space. Therefore, the project research team had to ask the Osiris-Rex to store the specimen in the biosphere ahead of schedule. On October 29, NASA confirmed that the spacecraft had successfully stored at least a kilogram of asteroid rock dust, also known as regolith. This far exceeds the minimum mission objective of 0.05 kg. The number of specimens lost was only a few dozen grams, according to Dante Lauretta, the researcher leading the mission.
After the Osiris-Rex returns to Earth in 2023, the ship will release the sample compartment through the atmosphere. After that, the storage compartment will land in the Utah desert for NASA to retrieve. It is the first specimen taken from an asteroid. To collect an asteroid specimen, the Osiris-Rex had to fly through a dangerous rocky field and touch the Bennu’s surface in just 6 seconds.
After a quick landing, the spacecraft sent NASA valuable photos of the cargo space, but the researchers noticed that many dust particles were missing. Previously, the team planned to spend two weeks evaluating the specimen, but feared that more of the material would be lost in the vacuum of space. Therefore, they had to speed up the storage process, working day and night for two days to ensure that the robotic arm could safely store the sample in the storage compartment. Elbows should line up with compartment to interlock. It sounds simple enough, but since the spacecraft is flying 321 million km, every command and response is delayed by 18 minutes. On October 27, the spacecraft arm successfully placed the sample collection head in the open storage compartment.
As planned, the Osiris-Rex will begin a long-term return flight to Earth in March 2021. The ship will release the sample compartment on September 24, 2023. A few days after the specimen landed in Utah, the team hopes to conduct the analysis at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. NASA will partially preserve the regolith for future research. This research could be critical over the next 100 years, as Bennu’s flight path could cause him to crash into Earth.
“Bennu is one of the most dangerous asteroids with the potential to crash into Earth in the 22nd century. Part of our research is aimed at understanding its flight path, determining its potential for impact.” and document the natural and chemical characteristics so that future generations can develop the task of minimizing impact impacts if necessary, ”explains Lauretta.
