NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Successfully Touches Asteroid

[Nikola Bijeliti]

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Successfully Touches Asteroid

NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft unfurled its robotic arm Tuesday, and in a first for the agency, briefly touched an asteroid to collect dust and pebbles from the surface for delivery to Earth in 2023.

This well-preserved, ancient asteroid, known as Bennu, is currently more than 200 million miles (321 million kilometers) from Earth. Bennu offers scientists a window into the early solar system as it was first taking shape billions of years ago and flinging ingredients that could have helped seed life on Earth. If Tuesday’s sample collection event, known as “Touch-And-Go” (TAG), provided enough of a sample, mission teams will command the spacecraft to begin stowing the precious primordial cargo to begin its journey back to Earth in March 2021. Otherwise, they will prepare for another attempt in January.

[Ray Allan]

OSIRIS-REx blasts the surface of asteroid Bennu with its nitrogen gas thruster to collect samples during the Touch-And-Go (TAG) maneuver, 20 October, 2020.

OSIRIS-REx Sample Collection at Asteroid Bennu: SamCam View of TAGSAM

OSIRIS-REx Sample Collection at Asteroid Bennu: SamCam View of TAGSAM

[Nikola Bijeliti]

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Collects Significant Amount of Asteroid

Two days after touching down on asteroid Bennu, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission team received on Thursday, Oct. 22, images that confirm the spacecraft has collected more than enough material to meet one of its main mission requirements – acquiring at least 2 ounces (60 grams) of the asteroid’s surface material.

The spacecraft captured images of the sample collector head as it moved through several different positions. In reviewing these images, the OSIRIS-REx team noticed both that the head appeared to be full of asteroid particles, and that some of these particles appeared to be escaping slowly from the sample collector, called the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) head. They suspect bits of material are passing through small gaps where a mylar flap – the collector’s “lid” – is slightly wedged open by larger rocks.

[Ray Allan]

The Bennu samples have been safely stowed inside the return capsule. OSIRIS-REx will depart Bennu orbit in March 2021 and the return capsule will touch down in the Utah desert on September 24, 2023 after a 7-year mission.

https://spacenews.com/osiris-rex-saf...teroid-sample/

[Ray Allan]

Also, on 6 December 2020, the return capsule of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hayabusa2 is scheduled to land in Woomera, South Australia with samples it collected from asteroid Ryugu back in 2018.

Hayabusa2 Earth Return（English）

Hayabusa2 Earth Return（English）

[Ray Allan]

JAXA's Hayabusa2 asteroid sample return capsule lands in Australia

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020...-to-australia/