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byAhmad Luthfi –
editorAhmad Luthfi
Oct 3, 2023
Technologue.id, Jakarta – NASA’s space capsule called OSIRIS-REx has returned with samples of an asteroid that is approximately 200 million miles away from planet Earth.
The agency’s staff opened the space capsule on Tuesday and discovered that the inside of the lid was coated with a mysterious black material, forcing them to stop work.
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Unlike the handful of rocks and dust picked up from the surface of the asteroid, the black material looks smoother, almost like the dirt that coats a dirty car, quoted from Dailymail.co.uk.
NASA said the material would undergo a ‘cursory analysis’ to find out what it actually was, but a scientist had to weigh in before an official decision was made.
Speaking to MailOnline, Dr Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University in Canberra, said the fine dust could also be material from asteroids.
“Asteroid dirt is very dark and fine,” Dr Tucker told MailOnline.
“When OSIRIS-REx performs the touch-and-go maneuver to collect samples, there are many things that prevent the lid from closing,” he said.
NASA admitted shortly after the takeover in October 2020 that asteroid material was leaking from OSIRIS-REx because a rock became wedged in the mechanism.
“Eventually they cleared it up, so it looked like it was dust and dirt,” Dr Tucker added.
Professor Trevor Ireland, a geochemist at the University of Queensland, agreed that black dust appeared during sample collection.
“Under microgravity, there’s nothing to stop the dust from spreading everywhere, and possibly back into the spacecraft,” he told MailOnline.
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Since the sample returned to Earth on Sunday, NASA has only opened the capsule’s top lid, while a handful of rocks from Bennu are stored in another smaller component inside that must be opened.
The valuable cargo is estimated to total 8.8 ounces, or 250 grams of rock material.
#Nasa #Scientists #SpaceRock #AsteroidBennu #NASAScientists
2023-10-03 13:28:45
#Scientists #Find #Mysterious #Black #Dust #Bennu #Asteroid #Samples
