This afternoon, a NASA spacecraft successfully touched the surface of a planet more than 200 million miles from Earth in an attempt to capture a handful of pebbles and dust from space rock. The spacecraft’s data confirmed that the vehicle actually touched the planet today, but NASA did not know until yesterday if it would actually sample the material.
“Touchdown announced,” a mission controller announced when the team received data confirming the maneuver. “Sampling in the process.” The news of success was met with enthusiasm and applause from the engineers who followed along with the process.
The spacecraft that has just tapped the planet is OSIRIS-Rex, and it has been years since this model maneuver was made. The main purpose of the spacecraft is to bring back the ancient specimens of the planet Earth, so that scientists can study the material in the laboratory. Asteroids are thought to be the oldest remnants of the early solar system – objects that have remained relatively intact since the beginning of the planets. By analyzing a small part of a planet, scientists can gain a wealth of knowledge about the types of materials present when the solar system began.
But if all went well in the sample, the atmosphere of OSIRIS-Rex would not be small. The mission team is hoping to pull up to 60 grams (2.1 ounces) of dirt from the spacecraft’s target planet, Bennu. If OSIRIS-Rex had captured as much material, it would have been the largest sample of asteroids ever collected – and the largest sample of material collected from another space organization since the Polo mission. The other two Japanese missions have previously sampled asteroids, but their caches were in the milligram range. With the ability to collect 2 kilograms (4.ounds pounds) of asteroid specimens, OSIRIS-Rex could potentially gain much more.
To collect the sample, the OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft, equipped with a long, thin robotic arm, has a cylindrical storage device attached to the end. This afternoon the spacecraft landed with its arms outstretched on the surface of Benh and gently touched the planet for a few seconds. As soon as the hand came in contact, the vehicle emitted an explosion of nitrogen gas that shook the rocks on the surface of the asteroid as a shelter. This should have pushed a large amount of material into the collector at the end of the hand. OSIRIS-Rex also had to do all this on its own, as a radio signal currently takes more than 18 minutes to arrive from Earth.
NASA expected to know tomorrow that OSIRIS-Rex had received the sample when images of the spacecraft began to arrive. Buck, Mission Program Manager for OSIRIIRIS-Rex at Lock Kahid Martin, said during a press conference before the sample maneuver. “But we’ll continue to analyze it for the next 10 minutes or so.”
Over the weekend, the mission team will try to determine how much OSIRIS-Rex has been scooped up. As the spacecraft retreats from Bennu, the engineers will spin the spacecraft by extending the sample arm. When they compare the inertia of the spinning vehicle with the previous data of the empire’s spacecraft, the mission team should get a clear idea of how well they did up.
If they decide they have collected more than 60 grams of material, the team will likely declare success and begin preparations for OSIRIS-Rex to dispatch Bennu in March. The spacecraft is scheduled to return to Earth in September 2023. At that point, the sample material will parachute to the surface, landing in the Utah Desert.
If the team gets them Did not Get what they want, there are options to try again. OSIRIS-Rex could attempt two more sampling, as it has two extra bottles of nitrogen gas on board to stimulate the contents. Those decisions will come later, though. For now, the team is celebrating just touching the asteroid with OSIRIS-Rex.
“We’ve overcome the surprising challenges that the planet has thrown at us, and the spacecraft seems to be operating flawlessly,” said Dante Lure Retta, chief researcher at OSIRIS-Rex at the University of Arizona, during a live stream of the maneuver. “We built it on the surface of the planet. We were in touch. ”
