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The small satellite that could: NASA’s OSIRIS-REx is even more successful than the space agency predicted. The last time we left REx, he was 200 million miles away, had stretched out his robotic arm and blasted the surface with pure nitrogen gas and used a vacuum cleaner – one that would have made Dyson proud – and sucked space rocks into the surface of the asteroid.
But for Dante Lauretta, principal investigator of the planetary scientist at the University of Arizona, it might be something rarely said in the halls of the Johnson Space Center: Too successful. “This is the mission that continues to surprise us … We couldn’t have run a better collection experiment: it was successful, we collected 100 grams of samples, but the biggest concern is that the particles are escaping.”
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REx used a mechanism called Touch And Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism, or TAGSAM. The device was essentially a robotic arm and a vacuum cleaner that resembled a giant round shower head. TAGSAM was loaded with three containers of gas, giving it three chances to collect a minimum of 60 grams (2 oz) of asteroid.
The problem: The collecting pod far exceeded the minimum requirements on the first attempt and the collector head was unable to close. In fact, Lauretta’s team believes they have grabbed at least 400 grams of material.
However, NASA did what NASA does best: solve problems. Since the flap could not close, the team wanted to minimize the amount of sample lost to space, so they focused on closing the sample head as soon as possible.
The solution: The NASA team very meticulously moved the specimen’s head with the flap open into a storage container and placed it safely inside. Two locking mechanisms were able to protect the samples. The arm gently pulled the head to make sure it was set. While President Trump is focused on returning to the Moon and Mars, NASA considers this mission imperative as it will help explain the origins of our solar system.
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Asteroids could contain carbon and other organic compounds, including the building blocks of life, not found on meteorites. To get clues as to how life on Earth began billions of years ago, scientists had to go somewhere where no life yet exists, and Bennu was the perfect candidate.
One of the reasons Bennu was selected is because scientists believe it is a fragment of what was once a much larger space rock. The theory holds that it broke off during a collision between two asteroids early in the history of our solar system. As such, the 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid is a perfectly preserved cosmic time capsule.
Now OSIRUS-REx enters the final stretch of a mission that has lasted for 16 years. NASA began planning the mission in 2004. In 2016, REx left home borders and left for Bennu. The satellite arrived at Bennu in 2018 and began its orbit, spending nearly two years in orbit around the asteroid using laser beams to measure the surface.
OSIRUS-REx will remain in orbit around Bennu until March before embarking on its two-and-a-half-year journey back to Earth. Upon arrival, the specimen collection container will detach from the spacecraft and parachute, landing in the Utah desert in September 2023.
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All it has to do is travel 200 million miles and avoid space collisions and cosmic radiation, all while safely landing on Earth. But for NASA, this is just another day in the office.
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Source: Smithsonian
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