NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission achieved a major milestone on September 24th when a capsule containing pieces of an asteroid named Bennu landed on Earth. The asteroid, believed to have been in space since the early days of our solar system, could provide valuable insights into our cosmic neighborhood’s history. The capsule had made a 4-billion-mile-long journey to reach Bennu and successfully collected more than the expected 60 grams of material.
The curation team responsible for processing the samples announced that they have collected 70.3 grams (2.48 ounces) of Bennu material so far. This material was taken from the outside and part of the inside of the sample collector’s head. Additional material from the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) will be extracted later, contributing to the overall mass.
OSIRIS-REx marks the heftiest asteroid-sample-return mission, surpassing the previous record held by JAXA’s Hayabusa mission. NASA plans to distribute 25% of the Bennu samples to over 200 scientists at 25 different facilities, with 4% allocated to the Canadian Space Agency and 0.5% to JAXA. The remaining approximately 70% will be stored at Johnson Space Center for future study, similar to Apollo moon rock samples.
The abundance of the Bennu sample in the capsule is partly due to the surprise discovery during the touch-and-go process. Bennu turned out to be malleable rather than solid, releasing dust particles into the air when the sample collection arm made contact with the surface. This unusual characteristic led to uncertainty regarding the exact quantity of the sample until the container is opened.
Opening the container presents a slight challenge as two fasteners on the sample collection mechanism cannot be removed with the current tools. The team is developing new approaches to safely extract the material while preserving its integrity. Stringent protocols are in place to ensure the sample remains secure. The curation work is performed inside a special glove box with a constant flow of nitrogen to prevent exposure to Earth’s atmosphere.
While scientists work on accessing the remaining material, the TAGSAM head has been removed from the active nitrogen flow and stored in a transfer container sealed with an O-ring and surrounded by a sealed Teflon bag to maintain a stable, nitrogen-rich environment.