NASA has finally found a way to open a canister containing a sample of a mysterious asteroid named Bennu.
The sample was collected last September but malfunctioning fasteners on its container prevented scientists from accessing it for almost five months.
The material was collected from the asteroid Bennu during a billion-mile trek in the first asteroid sample mission in U.S. history to successfully return.
The locked capsule containing the sample landed in Utah in late September 2023 and was brought to a NASA facility in Houston, Texas.
The mission team was able to access 70.3 grams of material from the exterior of the sampler head on the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft, called the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), back in September.
This amount was 10 grams more than the mission’s original goal, but the majority of the asteroid sample was stuck inside the container when two of the 35 fasteners could not be removed with NASA’s existing tools.
Only certain tools are approved for use inside the spacecraft’s glovebox, which are selected because they will not create issues that could contaminate the samples.
However, none of the tools the scientists had at the time were up to the job.
“Our engineers and scientists have worked tirelessly behind the scenes for months to not only process the more than 70 grams of material we were able to access previously, but also design, develop, and test new tools that allowed us to move past this hurdle,” Eileen Stansbery, division chief for ARES (Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science) at NASA, said in a statement.
“The innovation and dedication of this team has been remarkable.
“We are all excited to see the remaining treasure OSIRIS-REx holds.”
The scientists created two new tools, which featured custom-made parts forged out of a specific grade of surgical, non-magnetic stainless steel, the hardest metal approved for use in the curation gloveboxes.
Development of the tools also needed to factor that they would be limited in size in order to be able to operate within the extremely small space of the glovebox.
The tools were then tested for efficacy in removal procedures in a rehearsal lab to ensure they would be able to open the container without damaging it or contaminating the asteroid samples.
Once the team completes the disassembly of the TAGSAM, they’ll be able to weigh the full sample to determine the total mass gathered from the asteroid.
Ultra-high-resolution pictures of all samples will also be taken before removal to document them.
Accessing the rest of the asteroid material marked the successful completion of the mission, and has made Bennu one of the few most thoroughly explored asteroids in our universe.
The asteroid was selected because it was one of only five asteroids in the entire universe that had the right characteristics and conditions for the NASA mission.
Scientists wanted to study a carbon-rich asteroid that was similar to the ones present in the early days of our solar system.
They needed an asteroid that was traveling between 0.8 and 1.6 Astronomical Units (AU), or sun-Earth distances, from the sun, according to Space.com.
For a successful mission, the asteroid also needed to be the right orbit and wider than 656 feet, so that it wouldn’t spin too fast for the craft to safely collect samples.
Bennu is also of interest to scientists because it has a 1 in nearly 1,800 chance of hitting Earth in the next 300 years, but they theorize it will be harmless if it does.
Asteroid Bennu is believed by scientists to date back to the early days of our solar system.
Studying samples collected from its surface could reveal new information about its planets, and perhaps its formation.
NASA plans to distribute a portion of the samples from asteroid Bennu to the rest of the scientific community for further research later this year.
Dr. Thomas Hughes is a UK-based scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to readers. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
