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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday October 21 2020, @11:03AM   Printer-friendly
from the catch-it-if-you-can dept.

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.

"This amazing first for NASA demonstrates how an incredible team from across the country came together and persevered through incredible challenges to expand the boundaries of knowledge," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "Our industry, academic, and international partners have made it possible to hold a piece of the most ancient solar system in our hands."

At 1:50 p.m. EDT, OSIRIS-REx fired its thrusters to nudge itself out of orbit around Bennu. It extended the shoulder, then elbow, then wrist of its 11-foot (3.35-meter) sampling arm, known as the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), and transited across Bennu while descending about a half-mile (805 meters) toward the surface. After a four-hour descent, at an altitude of approximately 410 feet (125 meters), the spacecraft executed the "Checkpoint" burn, the first of two maneuvers to allow it to precisely target the sample collection site, known as "Nightingale."

Ten minutes later, the spacecraft fired its thrusters for the second "Matchpoint" burn to slow its descent and match the asteroid's rotation at the time of contact. It then continued a treacherous, 11-minute coast past a boulder the size of a two-story building, nicknamed "Mount Doom," to touch down in a clear spot in a crater on Bennu's northern hemisphere. The size of a small parking lot, the site Nightingale site is one of the few relatively clear spots on this unexpectedly boulder-covered space rock.

"This was an incredible feat -- and today we've advanced both science and engineering and our prospects for future missions to study these mysterious ancient storytellers of the solar system," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "A piece of primordial rock that has witnessed our solar system's entire history may now be ready to come home for generations of scientific discovery, and we can't wait to see what comes next."

Also at NASASpaceFlight and The Register.


Original Submission

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NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Completes Final Tour of Asteroid Bennu 5 comments

NASA reports, via NASA, that OSIRIS-REx is leaving Bennu.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx completed its last flyover of Bennu around 6 a.m. EDT (4 a.m. MDT) April 7 and is now slowly drifting away from the asteroid; however, the mission team will have to wait a few more days to find out how the spacecraft changed the surface of Bennu when it grabbed a sample of the asteroid.

The OSIRIS-REx team added this flyby to document surface changes resulting from the Touch and Go (TAG) sample collection maneuver Oct. 20, 2020. "By surveying the distribution of the excavated material around the TAG site, we will learn more about the nature of the surface and subsurface materials along with the mechanical properties of the asteroid," said Dr. Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona.

During the flyby, OSIRIS-REx imaged Bennu for 5.9 hours, covering more than a full rotation of the asteroid. It flew within 2.1 miles' (3.5 kilometers) distance to the surface of Bennu – the closest it's been since the TAG sample collection event.

Just to mention, the survey and selection of a sampling site was one of the recent "citizen science" projects.

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  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 21 2020, @01:04PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 21 2020, @01:04PM (#1067135)

    /o/ can't touch this

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by RandomFactor on Wednesday October 21 2020, @01:10PM

    by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 21 2020, @01:10PM (#1067141) Journal

    If the mass measurement shows a good sample collection, the material will be placed into the Sample Return Capsule for the journey back to Earth. If enough material has not been collected, there is enough maneuvering ability for two additional attempts.

    --
    В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
  • (Score: 3, Touché) by bart9h on Wednesday October 21 2020, @02:13PM (1 child)

    by bart9h (767) on Wednesday October 21 2020, @02:13PM (#1067155)

    have made it possible to hold a piece of the most ancient solar system in our hands.

    For a very distant value of "our hands".

    • (Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Wednesday October 21 2020, @04:54PM

      by PiMuNu (3823) on Wednesday October 21 2020, @04:54PM (#1067216)

      You didn't know Jim Bridenstine was actually a repurposed satellite from the 1990s?

  • (Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday October 21 2020, @05:42PM (2 children)

    by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Wednesday October 21 2020, @05:42PM (#1067233)

    Your it!!

    --
    "Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2020, @02:11AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2020, @02:11AM (#1067392)

      Mommy!! He touched me!!

      • (Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday October 22 2020, @12:26PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 22 2020, @12:26PM (#1067468)

        unfurled its robotic arm Tuesday, and in a first for the agency, briefly touched an

        Here I thought this was going to be yet another Biden story.

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