NASA Fails to Open Canister Containing Asteroid Sample
It has been two months since NASA retrieved a special sample of rocks and dust from asteroid Bennu, and the space agency still cannot open the canister containing the precious material.
The sample, which is said to hold clues to the origin of the solar system and could potentially answer crucial questions about the formation of our planet, was collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and returned to Earth in September. However, the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) cannot be opened to access the rocks and dust.
NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston has been struggling to open the TAGSAM head, which contains the bulk of the samples collected by the spacecraft. After multiple attempts at removal, the team discovered that two of the 35 fasteners on the TAGSAM head could not be removed with the current tools approved for use in the OSIRIS-REx glovebox.
While the team has been able to access 70.3 grams of rocks and dust from outside and inside the sample head, and a portion of the samples were made accessible through a mylar flap, a significant amount of the sample is still trapped inside the container. The total amount of dust and rock is estimated to be 250 grams, and NASA is now focusing on developing new tools to open the canister.
Despite the setback, early analysis of the sample has revealed an abundance of carbon and water molecules, supporting the theory that the building blocks of life may have originated from asteroids.
NASA’s first attempt at retrieving a sample from an asteroid in space has been a challenging process, but the potential scientific discoveries that could come from studying the materials are worth the effort. The space agency will continue to work on finding a solution to access the remaining sample from asteroid Bennu.