The closure of the container for the rock and dust sample from the asteroid Bennu has been stuck for the last three months. On January 11, the American space agency announced known to NASAthat the final two fasteners have been successfully removed from the sampling head. The sample should be visible after a few more steps.
The first high-resolution photos will then be taken of the asteroid sample, which the Osiris-Rex space probe dropped into the Earth’s atmosphere in a sealed container in September 2023. Only after the photo documentation will NASA check how much material was brought to Earth by Bennu.
“Our engineers and scientists worked tirelessly behind the scenes for months to not only process the more than 70 grams of material we previously had access to, but also to design, develop and test new tools that allowed us to to overcome this hurdle”said Eileen Stansbery. She is the department head at Ares (Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science).
First problem and first dust samples
In mid-October, the dismantling of the Tagsam head (touch-and-go mechanism for sample capture) had to be interrupted. It was determined that two of the 35 fasteners could not be removed using the tools approved for use in the Osiris-Rex glove box. Two new multi-part tools were then developed and manufactured to support further disassembly.
The first samples have already been taken. They do not come from the container, but have accumulated in front of it. In addition, Osiris-Rex was able to collect significantly more material than originally planned. Once the container is opened, parts of the samples are sent to scientists and researchers from around the world.