On Tuesday (26 September), NASA scientists removed the initial lid from the canister, which was part of the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule that had touched down in the Utah desert just two days prior. Following its successful landing, the sample capsule retrieved from space was delivered to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on September 25.
“A scientific treasure box.”
— NASA Astromaterials (@Astromaterials) September 26, 2023
Scientists gasped as the lid was lifted from the #OSIRISREx asteroid sample return canister, showing dark powder and sand-sized particles on the inside of the lid and base.
Read more from the @NASA_Johnson curation lab: https://t.co/JBw6TCI7kB pic.twitter.com/t43QEDLH7G
Inside the canister, NASA scientists found black dust and debris of near-Earth asteroid Bennu on the avionics deck of the OSIRIS-REx sample canister.
Notably, the Johnson Centre houses the world’s largest collection of astromaterials. According to the official statement by NASA, at the Johnson Centre, the curation experts will perform the intricate disassembly of the Touch and Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) to get down to the bulk sample within.
The space agency added that these operations are taking place in a new laboratory that has been designed specifically for the OSIRIS-REx mission. The aluminium lid was removed inside a glovebox designed to enable working with the large piece of hardware.
After separating the TAGSAM from the canister, it will be inserted in a sealed transfer container to preserve a nitrogen environment for up to about two hours. The container will allow enough time for the team to insert the TAGSAM into another unique glovebox and this will speed up the disassembly process.
Notably, the space agency is taking due diligence to not come into contact with the sample retrieved from asteroid Bennu and the hardware removal process will be done delicately taking necessary precautions to avoid risk of contamination.
As per the space agency, scientists and engineers at Johnson will work together to complete the disassembly process. Subsequently, it will reveal the sample to the world in a special live broadcast event that will take place on 11 October at 11 a.m. ET.
Earlier, NASA’s OSIRIS REx spacecraft retrieved the sample return capsule that contains a piece of near-Earth asteroid named Bennu. It landed near Salt Lake City at 8:25 PM IST on 24 September. Later, a recovery mission was launched to locate and retrieve the capsule.
During the descending phase, the capsule estimatedly reached temperatures up to 2,760° Celsius. Resultantly, the recovery team waited for the capsule to cool down so that it could handle it safely. NASA scientists and engineers have been training for this procedure for months and have conducted several simulations of the capsule recovery. They also set up a clean room to handle the capsule.
The estimated weight of the sample is around 8.8 ounces (250 grams) of asteroid rocks and soil from asteroid Bennu.
Regarding the sample, NASA said, “Pieces of 4.6bn-year-old space rock ‘act as a time capsule from the earliest days of our solar system.” It is believed that the sample could help scientists understand the ingredients that went into making planets including our own.
This is our first look inside a space capsule from a mission called #OSIRISREx.
— NASA (@NASA) September 26, 2023
It traveled to an asteroid called Bennu, took a sample from the surface, and the sample return capsule landed on Earth yesterday. It was a journey of nearly 3.9 billion miles.
The rocks and dust in…
Notably, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security and Regolith Explorer. This seven-year mission planned to study what scientists have described as the most dangerous rock in the Solar System began in 2016 when it lifted off with an aim to collect samples from the Bennu asteroid. It then began orbiting Bennu in 2018 and the spacecraft later collected the sample in 2020 using a long sting vacuum and subsequently set off on its lengthy return trip to Earth in May 2021.
It’s NASA’s first time returning an asteroid sample from space. Earlier, Japan had collected around a teaspoonful of samples in two asteroid missions.
To know more details about the asteroid Bennu and the OSIRIS REx mission, click here.
As per official information, Bennu is a carbonaceous asteroid which means that it has a lot of carbon in it, perhaps 5-10% by mass. It is expected that Scientists could see a mix of rocky fragments in a range of sizes – from a few millimetres across down to dust-sized. The material will appear very dark, almost black, and very crumbly.
