Cape Canaveral, Fla. This week’s crash into NASA’s spacecraft has filled so many small planets with debris that it’s open and precious particles are being sent into space, scientists said Friday.
The news came three days after astronauts briefly touched the eclipse Bennu, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft, the first such attempt by NASA.
The mission’s leading scientist, Dante Loretta of the University of Arizona, said Tuesday’s operation collected more material than expected to return to Earth 200 million miles away – hundreds of grams. The robot penetrated the sample container at the end of the hand into the asteroid and so deeply with such force, however, it sucked the rocks and settled on the edge of the lid.
In this image, taken from a video released by NASA, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft touches the surface of the asteroid Bennu on Tuesday, October 20, 2020. (Via NASA AP)
Scientists estimate that the specimens are pressed in 19 inches (48 centimeters) in rough, brittle, black terrain.
“We’re almost a victim of our success here,” Le Wei Retta said in a hastily arranged news conference.
Flight controllers said there was nothing that flight controllers could do to remove the obstacles and prevent more bits of Benu from escaping, except for samples entering their return capsules as soon as possible.
So, the flight team roamed early Tuesday to drop the sample container into the capsule – much earlier than the original trip – for the long haul.
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“Time is of the essence,” said Thomas Zarbuchen, head of NASA’s science mission.
This is NASA’s first asteroid sample-return mission. Bennu was chosen because its carbon-rich material contains the preserved building blocks of our solar system. Getting fragments from this cosmic time capsule could help scientists better understand how the planets formed millions of years ago and how life on Earth began.
Scientists were stunned on Thursday when they saw pictures of Osiris-Rex coming after its successful touch-and-go at Bennu two days ago – and then they were disappointed.
A cloud of planetary particles was seen revolving around the spacecraft as it returned from Bennu. According to Loretta, the situation appeared stable, once the robot arm was locked in place. But it was impossible to know how much was already lost.
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The requirement for missions over 800 800 million was to bring back at least 2 ounces (60 grams).
Regardless of what’s on board, Osiris-Rex will still move closer to the planet in March – the earliest possible departure to Earth and the respective locations of Bennu. Seven years after the spacecraft returned from Caps Canaveral, the specimens will not return until 2023.
Osiris-Rex will keep away from Bennu and will not wander, as he awaits his scheduled departure.
Due to the sudden turn of events, scientists do not know how many sample capsules there are until they return to Earth. They initially planned to spin the spacecraft to measure the contents, but that maneuver was canceled because it could spread even more debris.
“I think we’ll definitely have to wait until we get home,” Lauretta told reporters. “As you can imagine, it’s hard. … But the good news is that we need a lot of content. “
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Japan, meanwhile, is awaiting its second batch taken from another planet, due to return in December.
