NASA / Goddard / University of Arizona
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The head part of the sampler of the interplanetary station OSIRIS-REx gradually loses small particles of the material of the asteroid Bennu collected from its surface. Scientists came to this conclusion after analyzing the images transmitted to Earth, reported on the mission’s twitter. Until the head of the sampler is placed in the return capsule, the apparatus will not maneuver so as not to lose the collected samples – so for the fourth day it continues to move away from the asteroid at a speed of 40 centimeters per second.
OSIRIS-REx became the third interplanetary station in history that was able to take a sample of the material of an asteroid. October 20, 2020 apparatus committed first attempt at sampling soil from the area “Nightingale” in the northern hemisphere of the small near-Earth asteroid Bennu. This object of type “A pile of rubble”related to the spectral class B, may contain material left over from the formation of the solar system, and carry information about the role of asteroids in supplying water and organic compounds to the early Earth.
Two days after the sampling procedure, OSIRIS-REx sent back to Earth a series of photographs taken by the SamCam camera, which demonstrated both the course of the operation and the scattering of stones and dust on the asteroid, and the head of the sampler containing the sample. The analysis of the images showed that the apparatus accurately collected more than 60 grams of Bennu’s regolith (perhaps even more than a kilogram), which means the success of the operation and the fulfillment of the main task of the scientific program.
However, the researchers also noticed that from the sampler, through small slits in the mylar shutter, small particles of the asteroid’s material slowly fly away. It is assumed that this is due to the fact that large fragments of rocks are stuck in the valve and do not allow it to close.
The current situation led to the mission team’s refusal to perform the station rotation maneuver for more accurate appraisals the mass of the substance collected by it, as well as the cancellation of the inclusion of the engines of the apparatus – so that it did not enter a stable orbit of the asteroid, but moves away from it at a speed of 40 centimeters per second. In the near future, OSIRIS-REx should carefully place the head of the sampler in a sealed capsule being returned to Earth, and only then will it be able to correct its position.
It is expected that by September 2023, the station will deliver a capsule with Bennu soil to our planet and release it into the atmosphere, after which it will land on training ground Utah.
You can learn about some of the discoveries made by the station and the difficulties of taking soil from Bennu from our materials. “Diamond-shaped celestial body” and “Poke an asteroid with a vacuum cleaner”.
Alexander Voytiuk
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