NASA faces a surprise when opening the capsule containing asteroid material

NASA experts are slowly making their way to material from the asteroid Bennu, brought to Earth by the OSIRIS-REx space probe – and they were surprised.

HOUSTON – A rock sample from the asteroid Bennu has been on Earth since September 24 and is currently being examined by researchers from the US space agency NASA. But the capsule containing the asteroid material is opening more slowly than expected – and “for the best reasons,” as NASA itself says. The capsule is literally overflowing with asteroid material. There is so much asteroid dust in the capsule that the scientific container containing the actual asteroid rock has not yet been opened.

The capsule itself, which was dropped from NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft over the Utah desert, protects the so-called TAGSAM head, which sampled the asteroid in October 2020. Rock star and astrophysicist Brian May also helped, as the scientific container contains the majority of the material. asteroid. But to get there, it appears researchers will first have to make their way through the material outside the capsule’s TAGSAM head.

NASA “Osiris-Rex” mission: more asteroid material than expected

This is a surprise for the participating scientists. According to NASA, the asteroid material was expected to be found outside the scientific container. But the amount actually found still surprises researchers. “The best problem is that there is a lot of material that is taking longer than we expected to collect it,” says NASA employee Christopher Sneed. “There’s a lot of rich material outside of TAGSAM’s head that is also interesting in its own right. It’s really amazing that we have all this material there.”

Experts are currently conducting rapid preliminary analyzes of the asteroid material located outside the scientific container. The plan is to obtain a preliminary understanding of the material coming from the asteroid Bennu. The researchers also want to know what to expect from the main sample. “We have all the microanalysis techniques that we can use to actually dissect the sample, down to almost the atomic level,” Lindsay Keller of the Osiris-Rex sample analysis team confirms in a NASA statement.

NASA wants to display the actual asteroid sample to the public soon

In the coming weeks, the actual asteroid sample, including the TAGSAM head, will be placed in a special glove box that is tightly sealed from the outside. The scientific container is then carefully opened to retrieve the actual rock sample. NASA wants to display the asteroid sample publicly for the first time on October 11, after which scientists have a lot of work to do.

Researchers hope to get many Bennu samples. After all, asteroids are remnants of the solar system’s formation, preserved in the cold of space. At stake are some of humanity’s biggest questions: Did asteroids once bring water to Earth? And might they be responsible for bringing some of the essential elements of life to Earth? Many research teams will work on these questions and on samples taken from the asteroid Bennu during the coming months and years. (unpaid bill)