Sample and Return of Asteroid Bennu - live on Oct 20, 2020 at 1720 GMT

Yeah, we're trying to get ahold of a physical sample of a pristine asteroid.

Coverage starts at 1720 GMT (1:20pm EDT, 10:20am PDT)
Live landing and capture at 2200 GMT (5pm EDT, 2pm PDT)

https://www.nasa.gov/live/
https://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html
https://www.facebook.com/NASA/events/

A little more info at:
https://www.space.com/39958-asteroid-bennu.html
https://www.space.com/nasa-asteroid-bennu-sampling-osiris-rex-webcasts

Cheers,
Tom

Tom.G said:

Live landing and capture at 2200 GMT (5pm EDT, 2pm PDT)

In 45 minutes.
It might take a few hours to confirm that it properly collected samples (camera images), and it will likely take days to determine how much (spinning the spacecraft to measure the mass in the container).

Tag successful and the craft is backing away safely. Pretty cool.

A few factoids I picked up during the broadcast.

Download link speed from craft: 40 bits per second (that's why no live images, images available tomorrow)

Equatorial rotation speed of asteroid: 10cm per second

Mapping resolution:
. . . Whole surface : 2cm per pixel
. . . Landing area: 3.5mm per pixel

Descent speed:
. . . Lateral drift rate: 0.2cm per second
. . . Vertical speed: 10.2cm per second

The craft is using a "Pogo Stick" landing approach. The sample probe is spring loaded axially so the craft doesn't immediately bounce up on contact. The sample collection is done in the approx. 10 seconds it takes for a rebound.

Sample size is mass limited to the equivalent of a 2cm sphere, odd shapes acceptable.

Once back in orbit, the collection arm will be folded around to the camera for a visual inspection of the collection cup.

A minimum 60g sample is desired. Maximum sample holder capacity is 2kg.

Four days from now (Saturday), they plan to fold the collection arm at 90 degrees to the craft spin axis to measure the change in rotational inertia, thus finding the mass of any collected material. A calibration test was previously executed for a baseline measurement.

If needed, there is enough capability for two more sample events.

Return to Earth is expected in 2013.

There was a brief reference to a Nasa Goddard page on utube for further info; though no details or specific URL were given.

Cheers,
Tom

Tom.G said:

Download link speed from craft: 40 bits per second (that's why no live images, images available tomorrow)

Yeah, they mentioned that once the craft was safely away from the asteroid and cooled down some with its solar panels pointing back at the Sun, they would be able to align the high-gain antenna with Earth again to transfer information with a higher datarate.

mfb said:

Here is a video of the sample collection process

Wow, looks like a perfect TAG! When is the camera view of the collection going to be received?

NASA said "tomorrow" 5 hours ago, so Thursday in the US. 26:06 in case the time stamp doesn't work:

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx was so good at grabbing asteroid rocks that they’re overflowing

The images suggest up to 400 gram of material collected. So much material that they couldn't close the lid properly and a few grams of the captured sample escaped again. A bit more might escape until the sample is stored within the main spacecraft .

The spin maneuver is canceled as it would mean losing more material. We'll only get a good mass estimate when the sample arrives on Earth.

The return journey

https://phys.org/news/2023-09-nasa-spacecraft-biggest-sample-asteroid.html

Thanks @pinball1970, I think I'll set my alarm clock for that!

Looks like YouTube is confused. This post is on Thursday, Sept. 21 and the overlay on the YouTube link when clicked is:
Live in 2 days
September 24 at 7:00AM

Tom.G said:

Thanks @pinball1970, I think I'll set my alarm clock for that!

Looks like YouTube is confused. This post is on Thursday, Sept. 21 and the overlay on the YouTube link when clicked is:
Live in 2 days
September 24 at 7:00AM

That's weird. It played fine when I was uploading the article. I'll try again.
EDIT: Playing fine now.

Tom.G said:

Thanks @pinball1970, I think I'll set my alarm clock for that!

Looks like YouTube is confused. This post is on Thursday, Sept. 21 and the overlay on the YouTube link when clicked is:
Live in 2 days
September 24 at 7:00AM

I'm out but I checked in and saw a parachute and applause so I am assuming all good!

9/26/2023 Capsule now in a Clean Room at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Some chatter about the return & recovery is at:
https://www.physicsforums.com/posts/6934727

Reported on 9/28/2023:
Some unknown dark material found inside the lid of the Bennu re-entry capsule. Opening of sample capsule delayed until NASA finds out what the heck it is!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...kely-NASA-halts-work-formally-identified.html

Cheers,
Tom

Tom.G said:

9/26/2023 Capsule now in a Clean Room at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Some chatter about the return & recovery is at:
https://www.physicsforums.com/posts/6934727

Reported on 9/28/2023:
Some unknown dark material found inside the lid of the Bennu re-entry capsule. Opening of sample capsule delayed until NASA finds out what the heck it is!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...kely-NASA-halts-work-formally-identified.html

Cheers,
Tom

I watched the landing after the event and then tuned into a Becky YT post which gave a breakdown of what will happen next.

The link mentioned some of the tests that will be performed by current and future groups. All good.
In terms of life building blocks, proteins were mentioned.
Proteins?
This is not something I have heard of.
Quick search gave this.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemolithin#:~:text=makes no sense."-,History,, Allende and Acfer-086.

The Bennu sample is large so tests could look for this or precursors.

From the link.

"The main problem is the occurrence of hydroxyglycine, which, to my knowledge, has never before been reported in meteorites or in prebiotic experiments. Nor is it found in any proteins. ... Thus, this amino acid is a strange one to find in a meteorite, and I am highly suspicious of the results."[10] Likewise, Lee Cronin of the University of Glasgow stated, "The structure makes no sense."[9]

Tom.G said:

Some unknown dark material found inside the lid of the Bennu re-entry capsule.

Uh oh...remember Piedmont, Arizona,

As far as proteins, I foresee arguing about definitions. Is a string of 2 amino acids a protein? Ten? Where do you draw the line?

Vanadium 50 said:

As far as proteins, I foresee arguing about definitions. Is a string of 2 amino acids a protein? Ten? Where do you draw the line?

Not sure. If a very short chain ( I saw three on a search) has some sort of function the Biochemists may justify calling it a protein.
I have not come across proteins being found in meteors besides the mentioned contentious citation.

Vanadium 50 said:

Uh oh...remember Piedmont, Arizona,

Piedmont, New Mexico

renormalize said:

Piedmont, New Mexico

In the 1971 movie. The book was Arizona.

A couple links for Bennu sample information:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/osiris-rex/2023/09/29/initial-curation-of-nasas-osiris-rex-sample/

Wednesday, Oct 11, 2023 NASA (11AM ET (USA)) news report about the sample
(see also the list of Upcoming Events on the same page)
https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv/

Cheers,
Tom

Tom.G said:

A couple links for Bennu sample information:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/osiris-rex/2023/09/29/initial-curation-of-nasas-osiris-rex-sample/

Wednesday, Oct 11, 2023 NASA (11AM ET (USA)) news report about the sample
(see also the list of Upcoming Events on the same page)
https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv/

Cheers,
Tom

Andromeda Strain 1971, Osiris Rex mission 2023. Some similarities and some differences.

Analysis.

1971

"careful!"



2023

"Careful!"



1971

The retrieval

"Hook it to the copter yes?"

"Yeah."



2023

"Hook to a copter yes?"



"Sissies."

NASA can't get the sample container open!

It seems that two of the 35 fasteners keeping the lid on like staying right where they are. NASA is designing a special tool to extract them, but they then must be certified for use in the Clean Room and the Glove Box that has the sample container.

They have, however, retrieved more than their minimum expected sample volume just from the outer container.

Found so far is Carbon and Water Vapor.

An article published yesterday (also has a few more links in it):
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-struggling-open-asteroid-sample-container-1850951047

Cheers,
Tom

Tom.G said:

NASA can't get the sample container open!

It seems that two of the 35 fasteners keeping the lid on like staying right where they are. NASA is designing a special tool to extract them, but they then must be certified for use in the Clean Room and the Glove Box that has the sample container.

They have, however, retrieved more than their minimum expected sample volume just from the outer container.

Found so far is Carbon and Water Vapor.

An article published yesterday (also has a few more links in it):
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-struggling-open-asteroid-sample-container-1850951047

Cheers,
Tom

Looks like they cracked it.

https://www.iflscience.com/nasa-fin...o-access-historic-bennu-asteroid-sample-72422

A quick update.

https://phys.org/news/2024-02-nasa-osiris-rex-bulk-sample.html

121.6 g which was twice the mission the target.

Samples sent to global teams with the rest put in storage for future technologies to investigate.