During a NASA press conference on Friday, some samples were leaking into space, according to Dante Lure Retana, chief investigator of OSIRIS-Rex at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
“The big concern now is that the particles are coming out because we’re almost the victim of our own success,” he said. “Large particles exposed the flute. The particles are scattering in space. They are not moving fast, but nonetheless, they are valuable scientific material.”
The mission team on Thursday analyzed images taken by the spacecraft’s collector head showing that significant samples had been collected – but there was so much material in the head that the flop designed to hold the sample inside was jammed.
This allows particles to be released into space. The mission team is changing the route of events planned for this week’s spacecraft and plans to stove the sample as soon as possible so that little material is lost. Researchers estimated that between 5 and 10 grams of the material is constantly lost. This flaky material looks like a cloud of particles around the head.
But the team is not sure about the exact rate of damage because it is not stable.
The mission needed to collect at least 2 ounces or 60 grams from the surface material of the asteroid. Based on the images they analyzed, the researchers believe that the collector head at the end of the robotic arm of the spacecraft actually captured 400 grams of material. And that’s just what they see from the point of view of me.
But the particles are escaping through small gaps where the Mylar flap or id is exposed by at least a centimeter through large rocks. And activities planned for this week’s spacecraft could cause further sample damage due to movement.
Previously, OSIRIS-Rex was expected to measure the breaking burn on Friday and the sample set on Saturday. However, this means that the team will not know the true mass of the sample until it returns to Earth in 2023. The mission team is confident that it will have enough samples.
“We are working to continue our own success here, and it is my job to return as many of Bennu’s samples as possible,” said Le We Retta. “Mass loss is a concern for me, so I strongly encourage the team to start this precious specimen as soon as possible.”
The team will go through another evaluation process this week to ensure that by Tuesday the head of the sample will be able to secure the material released in the sample return capsule and keep the precious cargo safe so that it can return to Earth.
The head of the sample has been overwhelmed by how the collection Evac came out unexpectedly on Tuesday.
The head of the collector made direct contact during the event on Tuesday – and then some. During six seconds when the head came down it sank 5 centimeters into the surface of the planet. When a bottle of pressurized nitrogen gas is fired, which is designed to lift the material from the surface, the head sinks an extra 24 to 48 centimeters into the surface material.
There is no way to close the flop, Lure Retta said. While the team is not sure about the force of the rocks that have been opened, it should be strong and within the size limit for what can pass in the head of the collection, he said.
The team did not face the same as in their test campaign before the launch of this mission – in which the head of a large rock and sample collection is buried by the surface material of the planet. But the researchers did not test the sample head in depth, they suspect it actually reached the asteroid.
“Bennu has continued to amaze us with great science and has thrown a few curb balls,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for the agency’s science mission directorate in Washington.
“However, we have to move faster to take samples, which is not a bad problem. Given the abundance of samples that appear, we look forward to inspiring science for even more decades than this historic moment.”
Regardless of when the sample will be placed next week, the spacecraft will not begin returning to Earth until March 2021, when asteroids currently 200 million miles from Earth will align with our planet for a more efficient journey. .
According to the team, the spacecraft is “in good health” to return to Earth.
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