Nearly four months after finally removing the last two clasps on the canister and dropping it into the Utah desert by OSIRIS-REx, NASA’s curation team has finally revealed the remaining samples of asteroid Bennu.
The final two fasteners were removed on January 10, allowing the team to complete the final step of opening the Touch and Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) head and finally gaining access to the remaining samples. became. Before removing the lid, the team had already collected 70.3 grams (2.48 ounces) of asteroid material.
Creative lead Erika Blumenfeld and project lead Joe Aeber sold on the Astromaterials team took the photo above, using manual high-resolution high-precision photography and a semi-automatic focusing procedure to create a highly detailed top view of the sample. Provided a down view. .
The curation team’s next step is to remove the metal collar surrounding the canister and prepare a glovebox that will be used to transfer samples from the TAGSAM head to the sample tray. The trays are then photographed, weighed, and packed for storage at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
It’s been a long road to get to this point. Osiris-Rex successfully dropped a capsule containing a sample of Bennu in September 2023, but attempting to enter its inner container proved more difficult than expected. He was unable to remove two of the fasteners, so the team had to come up with a new game plan. The issue was finally resolved on January 10th of this year.
“Our engineers and scientists have worked for months to design, develop, and test new tools that can overcome this hurdle, as well as process the 70 grams of material we previously had access to. “We’ve been working tirelessly behind the scenes over the years,” said Eileen Stansberry, director of Astromaterials Research, Exploration Sciences, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. statement.
“The innovation and dedication of this team has been amazing. We all look forward to seeing the remaining treasures that OSIRIS-REx holds.”
Some of the samples are already available for public viewing, but it will be some time before we know the full details of what the samples tell us about asteroid Bennu. In the coming weeks, the team will have a chance to assess the sample’s final mass, which has already exceeded its target of 60 grams (2.12 ounces). A full catalog of Bennu samples will be released later this year.