{"id":10308,"date":"2023-09-22T23:18:31","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T15:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-is-bringing-an-asteroid-sample-back-to-earth-heres-when-how-and-why\/"},"modified":"2023-09-22T23:18:31","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T15:18:31","slug":"nasa-is-bringing-an-asteroid-sample-back-to-earth-heres-when-how-and-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-is-bringing-an-asteroid-sample-back-to-earth-heres-when-how-and-why\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA is bringing an asteroid sample back to Earth \u2013 here\u2019s when, how and why"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Taken on Oct. 27, this image shows NASA\u2019s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully placing its sample collector head into the Sample Return Capsule (SRC). The sequence begins with the collector head hovering over the SRC after the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) arm and moving it into the proper position for capture. At the end of the sequence, the collector head is secured onto the capture ring in the SRC. A few particles can also be seen escaping from the capsule. Image: NASA\/Goddard\/University of Arizona\/Lockheed Martin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the first time in its agency\u2019s history, NASA is bringing home a sample of an asteroid. The nearly eight-ounce sample from carbon-rich asteroid Bennu is set to land in the desert of the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) on Sunday, Sept. 24.<\/p>\n

The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft launched back in Sept. 15, 2016 and collected a sample from Bennu on Oct. 20, 2020.<\/p>\n

It began making its way back towards Earth over the last couple of years. After making it\u2019s final trajectory maneuver on Sept. 17, OSIRIS-REx is just about ready to release its precious cargo.<\/p>\n

Following sample release, the spacecraft will adjust its course and get renamed \u201cOSIRIS-APEX\u201d as it journeys off to observe another asteroid: 99942 Apophis.<\/p>\n

Speaking with Spaceflight Now on the anniversary of the mission launch, Dante Lauretta, the OSIRIS-REx principal investigator, said he and his team are buzzing with excitement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in major anticipation. The culmination of the seven-year adventure to asteroid Bennu and back is about to occur,\u201d Lauretta said. \u201cAs amazing as the science was that we did at Bennu, this mission\u2019s all about analyzing that return sample.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lauretta, who is also a professor of planetary science and cosmochemistry at the University of Arizona\u2019s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, is coordinating with a team of more than 200 researchers around the world who will be using more than 60 different analytical techniques to study the pristine specimen.<\/p>\n

Lauretta said they were able to capture and contain an estimated 250 grams, or about an eight-ounce cup\u2019s worth, of asteroid pieces when they made contact with the asteroid in the fall of 2020.<\/p>\n

The primary tool used to capture the sample was the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), which was built by Lockheed Martin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe probably had a lot more than that because we did lose material after sample collection, kind of a victim of our own success. We really filled the sample collector all the way to the brim,\u201d Lauretta said. \u201cI compare it to when you get a bucket of water and you fill it right to the lip and then you try and move it around. There\u2019s going to be stuff splashing off all around you. That\u2019s the situation that we were in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Lauretta noted that capturing 250 grams is more than four times what they promised they would deliver with this sample collection.<\/p>\n

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During the Touch-and-Go maneuver (TAG), the sampler head extended toward Bennu, and the momentum of the spacecraft pushed it against the asteroid\u2019s surface for about five seconds\u2014just long enough to obtain a sample. At contact, nitrogen gas will blow onto the surface to roil up dust and small pebbles, which will then be captured in the TAGSAM head. Image: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why collect an asteroid sample?<\/b><\/h2>\n

The chunk of Bennu that\u2019s being brought back to Earth represents only the third time such a sample return has been done with the first two being led by Japan. They retrieved a sample from asteroid 25143 Itokawa in 2010 and from 162173 Ryugu in 2020.<\/p>\n

Those missions were dubbed Hayabusa and Hayabusa2<\/b>, Japanese for \u201cperegrine falcon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennu is what scientists classify as a carbonaceous or \u201cC-type\u201d asteroid, which consist of clay and silicate rocks along with a large amount of carbon. They are also the most common type of asteroid in the solar system.<\/p>\n

Dr. Beau Bierhaus, the TAGSAM lead scientist for Lockheed Martin told Spaceflight Now on Monday that collecting pristine samples of asteroids like Bennu, along with observation missions like Lucy<\/b>, which launched in 2021 to explore the Trojan asteroids, are important tools in helping us better understand the origins of life here on Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese missions are incredibly profound because they are telling us about the complexity of the solar system, but they\u2019re also telling us about how the more we learn about other planets, the more we\u2019re learning about Earth and our place on Earth,\u201d Bierhaus said.<\/p>\n