Status: 16.01.2024, 11:29 a.m.
By: Nico Reiter
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A NASA mission has brought asteroid rock samples back to Earth. For months, the capsule could not be opened. Now the researchers have achieved a breakthrough.
Houston – For NASA's Osiris-Rex mission, a spacecraft spent seven years collecting rock samples from an asteroid. Material from the asteroid "Bennu" was brought back to Earth. The samples were dropped in a capsule over the desert in the US state of Utah in September. They are now being analysed by researchers around the world – including in Frankfurt. However, not all samples have been taken from the capsule so far.
Asteroid material is removed from the capsule – more than expected
Overall, more rock and dust was collected from the asteroid than the planned target of 60 grams, Nasa reports on its blog. Material was found not only in the sample container itself, but also on the outside of the container. This has also been collected and is now being investigated. However, most of the material is in the sample head, which must first be opened.
The probe is opened in a specialized glovebox, in which a stream of nitrogen prevents the samples from coming into contact with the Earth's atmosphere. In this way, the condition of the material can be maintained for subsequent examinations.
In the glovebox, the material of the "Osiris-Rex" mission is removed © Rpbert Markowitz NASA-JSC/Imago
Spacecraft can't be opened – researchers face a problem
After several attempts to retrieve the material from the sample head, it was found that two of the capsule's 35 caps could not be opened with the tools currently approved for the glovebox. Depending on the size, the first parts of the material could be removed with the help of tweezers and scoops. A total of 70.3 grams of material has already been collected.
The team at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston is working a new approach to collect the rest of the samples. The difficulty is not only to develop instruments that would not damage the collected material, but also to be able to operate in the limited space of the glovebox.
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New tools developed to open spacecraft
"Our engineers and scientists have been working hard behind the scenes for months to design, develop and test new tools that have helped us overcome this hurdle," said Eileen Stansberry, head of Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science.
Thanks to the new tools, the two remaining fasteners could now be removed after months of waiting. Finally, the so-called "Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism", which makes up the head of the probe, can be disassembled. Now it will become clear how much material the probe has brought back on its mission.