NASA said scientists gasped when the lid was lifted from the capsule that OSIRIS-REx brought to Earth last weekend. No wonder: it is the final point of a mission that lasted seven years, to bring back the largest sample of an asteroid so far. Inside, The team found “dark dust and sand-sized particles,” The US space agency reported this Wednesday.
The capsule was released last Sunday, in the Utah desert, in the USA, by the OSIRI-Rex space probe. The NASA spacecraft took off in 2016. It traveled 3 billion kilometers to reach Bennu, a carbon-rich asteroid discovered in 1999. It took two years to arrive, spent three years orbiting the asteroid and then flew two more years to return to Earth.
Scientists estimate that The capsule contains about 250 grams of Bennu remains. NASA has not yet confirmed this information. They have also not explained the nature of the dark powder and particles they saw when they opened the capsule lid. They will maintain part of the mystery until next October 11, when they will officially transmit their first findings to the entire world.
After landing, the capsule was transferred to NASA’s Johnson Space Center, located in Houston. In this place, the largest collection of astromaterials in the world is kept.
Although the capsule has now been opened, the intricate process of disassembling the Touch and Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) is still underway. In this way, they will reach the final container that houses the main sample.
This has been the review process of the OSIRIS-REx capsule
OSIRIS-REx reached the asteroid in 2018. But it was not until October 2020 that the sample collection process was carried out. At that key moment, the probe got close enough to Bennu and deployed a vacuum cleaner about three meters long. It touched its surface for a few moments, while it sucked in dust and rocks.
During that operation, NASA realized that the lid of the collection container could not close completely. Part of the sample, in fact, escaped. Fortunately, the mission team managed to secure what was left and ensure the project’s success. It is possible that part of what they just found when opening the lid corresponds to this part of the sample that leaked from the main container at the time.
NASA explained that all the capsule review is done in a new laboratory, designed specifically for the OSIRIS-REx mission. The space agency shared images of the moment they removed the aluminum lid, inside a glove box, designed to allow working with the large piece of hardware.
«There is a very high level of concentration on the part of the team»NASA said in a statement. “The sample will be revealed with amazing precision to allow delicate removal of the hardware and not come into contact with the sample inside.”
A varied group of scientists and engineers participate in the process. They call these types of samples “time capsules.” Bennu is believed to contain remains of the formation of the solar system dating back 4.5 billion years. Therefore, what this capsule brought can help us understand how the Earth was created and how life emerged on it. A portion of the sample will also be reserved for research decades from now, using technologies that will improve over the years.