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NASA shared amazing images of its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft touching an asteroid yesterday, revealing how the rover removed rocks and debris on the object’s surface when it made contact. The griffin’s goal was to collect a sample of material from the asteroid, but engineers behind the spacecraft say they won’t be sure if they collected anything until this weekend, when they spin the rover and measure how much material is inside.
However, the OSIRIS-REx team feels confident that they achieved something. “The bottom line is that the analysis of the images we’ve obtained so far is that the sampling event went really well, as well as we could have imagined,” Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona, said. during a press conference. “And I think the chances of having material inside … have increased a lot based on the analysis of the images.
Images from the event show how OSIRIS-REx allegedly grabbed some asteroid ground from the asteroid, named Bennu, on Tuesday. The images highlight the end of OSIRIS-REx’s extended robotic arm, charged with gently pressing on Bennu’s surface. “We were in contact with the surface for about six seconds, and our collection time about five seconds,” said Sandy Freund, OSIRIS-REx mission support manager at Lockheed Martin, during the press conference. When it touched Bennu, the ship’s arm released a puff of nitrogen gas, causing the asteroid’s rocks and pebbles to dance and spin wildly. The hope is that the gas caused some of those rocks to shoot into the arm.
Now it is just a waiting game as the OSIRIS-REx team pore over the data. On Saturday, engineers will spin the OSIRIS-REx, with its sampling arm extended, measuring the vehicle’s inertia. They will then compare those measurements to how OSIRIS-REx spun once before, without any samples on its arm. The difference between those measurements should give the team a better idea of how much material the vehicle grabbed on Tuesday.
And if OSIRIS-REx grabbed enough, at least 60 grams, then the mission team will start making preparations for the spacecraft to leave Bennu next year and embark on the long journey home, carrying its precious cargo back to scientists here on Earth.
