Osiris-Rex mission to bring back samples from astroid Bennu

[selvaarchi]

"OSIRIS-REx swoops over sample site Osprey"

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/O...sprey_999.html

This view of sample site Osprey on asteroid Bennu is a mosaic of images collected by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on May 26. A total of 347 PolyCam images were stitched together and corrected to produce the mosaic, which shows the site at 0.2 inches (5 mm) per pixel at full size.

The spacecraft took these images during an 820-foot (250-meter) reconnaissance pass over the site, which is the closest Osprey has been imaged. The pass was designed to provide high-resolution imagery to identify the best areas within the site to collect a sample.

[selvaarchi]

"OSIRIS-REx finds heat, cold fracturing rocks on Asteroid Bennu"

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/O...Bennu_999.html

Close-up observations of asteroid Bennu by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft contain the first evidence of thermal fracturing of rocks on an airless body, a Nature Communications paper by Planetary Science Institute Research Scientist Jamie Molaro says.

Thermal fracturing or thermal stress weathering occurs as rocks heat and cool each day, and mechanical stresses build up that can cause cracks to develop and grow. Over time the cracks grow larger and cause the rock to disaggregate or split into multiple pieces.

[selvaarchi]

"NASA's OSIRIS-REx produces Nightingale mosaic"

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/N...osaic_999.html

This view of sample site Nightingale on asteroid Bennu is a mosaic of images collected by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on March 3. A total of 345 PolyCam images were stitched together to produce the mosaic, which shows the site at 0.2 inches (4 mm) per pixel at full size.

These images were captured when the spacecraft performed an 820-foot (250-meter) reconnaissance pass over site Nightingale, which at the time was the closest the site had been imaged. The low-altitude pass provided high-resolution imagery for the OSIRIS-REx team to identify the best location within the site to target for sample collection.

[publiusr]

The BENNU GLOBAL MOSAIC is in the news again—

[selvaarchi]

"A Successful Second Rehearsal Puts NASA’s OSIRIS-REx on a Path to Sample Collection"

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard...ple-collection

Yesterday, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft performed its final practice run of the sampling sequence, reaching an approximate altitude of 131 feet (40 meters) over sample site Nightingale before executing a back-away burn. Nightingale, OSIRIS-REx’s primary sample collection site, is located within a crater in Bennu’s northern hemisphere.

The approximately four-hour “Matchpoint” rehearsal took the spacecraft through the first three of the sampling sequence’s four maneuvers: the orbit departure burn, the “Checkpoint” burn and the Matchpoint burn. Checkpoint is the point where the spacecraft autonomously checks its position and velocity before adjusting its trajectory down toward the event’s third maneuver. Matchpoint is the moment when the spacecraft matches Bennu’s rotation in order to fly in tandem with the asteroid surface, directly above the sample site, before touching down on the targeted spot.

[selvaarchi]

"Why Is Asteroid Bennu Ejecting Particles Into Space?"

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7743

When NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at asteroid (101955) Bennu, mission scientists knew that their spacecraft was orbiting something special. Not only was the boulder-strewn asteroid shaped like a rough diamond, its surface was crackling with activity, shedding small pieces of rock into space. Now, after more than a year and a half up close with Bennu, they're starting to better understand these dynamic particle-ejection events.

A collection of studies in a special edition of the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets homes in on the asteroid and these enigmatic particles. The studies provide a detailed look at how these particles act when in space, possible clues as to how they're ejected, and even how their trajectories can be used to approximate Bennu's weak gravitational field.

[selvaarchi]

"OSIRIS-REx finds possible pieces of Vesta on Bennu"

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/O...Bennu_999.html

In an interplanetary faux pas, it appears some pieces of asteroid Vesta ended up on asteroid Bennu, according to observations from NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. The new result sheds light on the intricate orbital dance of asteroids and on the violent origin of Bennu, which is a "rubble pile" asteroid that coalesced from the fragments of a massive collision.

"We found six boulders ranging in size from 5 to 14 feet (about 1.5 to 4.3 meters) scattered across Bennu's southern hemisphere and near the equator," said Daniella DellaGiustina of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson. "These boulders are much brighter than the rest of Bennu and match material from Vesta."

[selvaarchi]

"US probe to touch down on asteroid Bennu on October 20"

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/U...er_20_999.html

After a four-year journey, NASA's robotic spacecraft OSIRIS-REx will descend to asteroid Bennu's boulder-strewn surface on October 20, touching down for a few seconds to collect rock and dust samples, the agency said Thursday.

Scientists hope the mission will help deepen our understanding of how planets formed and life began and provide insight on asteroids that could impact Earth.

"Years of planning and hard work by this team are essentially coming down to putting the TAGSAM (Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism) into contact with the surface for just five to 10 seconds," said Mike Moreau, OSIRIS-REx deputy project manager.

[selvaarchi]

"NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Unlocks More Secrets from Asteroid Bennu"

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard...asteroid-bennu

NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission now knows much more about the material it’ll be collecting in just a few weeks. In a special collection of six papers published today in the journals Science and Science Advances, scientists on the OSIRIS-REx mission present new findings on asteroid Bennu’s surface material, geological characteristics, and dynamic history. They also suspect that the delivered sample of Bennu may be unlike anything we have in the meteorite collection on Earth.

These discoveries complete the OSIRIS-REx mission’s pre–sample collection science requirements and offer insight into the sample of Bennu that scientists will study for generations to come.

[selvaarchi]

"TAG, you’re it; OSIRIS-REx collects sample at asteroid Bennu"

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020...vity-at-bennu/

OSIRIS-REx — an international sample-return mission led by NASA and joined by science team members from Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy, and with an instrument provided through the Canadian Space Agency — has completed the Touch-And-Go sample collection maneuver to return portions of asteroid Bennu to Earth. Physical contact between the craft and Bennu for sample collection occurred at 17:53 EDT (21:53 UTC) on 20 October.

Science teams also observed regular material shedding activity from the near Earth object — an unexpected find that allows scientists to better understand the dynamic little worlds littered throughout the inner solar system.

[DavidLondon]

NASA Presentation on now shows NASA seems confident that the crushing of material occurred in a way that means they have pushed material up into the collection mechanism...

So it looks promising for a decent sample from Bennu....

Well done All those involved,

Let’s hope this gets confirmed in the days ahead... Apparently they are currently expecting a final report on the next attempt to estimate the weight of the sample on Monday...

https://youtu.be/QKI0QRb8LVo

[DavidLondon]

NASA presentation is saying that they expected the surface to be soft and crushable. Their photos have confirmed this.

So this suggests that the meteorites we collect on earth are a biased sample because they are probably harder than more typical softer materials on asteroids like Bennu.

A lot to be learned from projects like this for future exploration including for asteroid mining..

[selvaarchi]

"NASA images suggest OSIRIS-REx collection arm grabbed rocks from Bennu"

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/N...Bennu_999.html

Images released Wednesday by NASA suggest the OSIRIS-REx mission's Touch-And-Go sample collection event was a success.

Preliminary data collected during Tuesday's touchdown -- and analyzed by scientists shortly afterwards -- suggested the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft had performed as expected.

The latest images have offered scientists added confidence that the craft's sampling tool, the so-called Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism, or TAGSAM, captured rocks and dust from Bennu's surface.

"A lot of us were up really late last night, watching the images come down one by one," Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator and researcher at the University of Arizona, said Wednesday during a press conference.

What Lauretta called "the money shot," the image showing the arm's contact with the asteroid's regolith, didn't reach Earth until the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

[KaiYeves]

I’m excited!

[bknight]

Stirred up a lot of pebbles/dust at touchdown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJBv...ature=youtu.be

[Extravoice]

Hopefully they caught some of the pebbles. When will they be sure?

[bknight]

There is probably an instrument that measures density within the capture volume.

[PetersCreek]

There is probably an instrument that measures density within the capture volume.

Sort of. Before the TAG maneuver, controllers extended the TAGSAM collection arm, spun the craft, and measured the moment of intertia. They'll do the same again...on Monday, I think...and use the differing moments to compute the collected mass.

Also, they're supposed to image the collector itself for evidence of a successful sample...if they haven't already done so.

[selvaarchi]

"NASA works to head off losing too much Osiris-Rex asteroid dust"

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/N..._dust_999.html

NASA said Friday that its robotic spacecraft Osiris-Rex had succeeded in collecting a large sample of particles from the Bennu asteroid this week -- but so much that it was leaking.

The team in charge of the probe is now working to quickly stow the remaining samples that would eventually be delivered back to Earth to provide key scientific insights.

"A substantial fraction of the required collected mass is seen escaping," mission chief Dante Lauretta said in a phone briefing with journalists.

But the lid for the collector at the end of the probe's arm where the fragments are being stored has been slightly wedged open by larger rocks, creating a leak, the scientists suspect.

Five to 10 grams have already been observed around the collection arm in a cloud remaining more or less in the surrounding area due to the microgravity environment which makes fragments behave like fluids.

"My big concern now is that the particles are escaping because we were almost a victim of our own success here," Lauretta said.

As a result, a plan to carry out a mass measurement on Saturday has been cancelled since it could risk scattering further samples.

The task is now to reduce as much as possible the spacecraft's activities and prepare to stow the material in a capsule on the probe as quickly as possible.

[Extravoice]

Scott Manley has posted a good video about this on YouTube.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cmQfWuFbLNg

[Selenite]

Captivating...maybe too captivating. Nasa's collector runneth over. Apparently, when it comes to leaving Bennu there is no lack of volunteers.

[selvaarchi]

"OSIRIS-REx In the Midst of Sample Stowage"

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/g...sample-stowage

Yesterday, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission successfully placed the spacecraft’s sample collector head into its Sample Return Capsule (SRC). The first image shows the collector head hovering over the SRC after the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) arm moved it into the proper position for capture. The second image shows the collector head secured onto the capture ring in the SRC. Both images were captured by the StowCam camera.

Today, after the head was seated into the SRC’s capture ring, the spacecraft performed a “backout check,” which commanded the TAGSAM arm to back out of the capsule. This maneuver is designed to tug on the collector head and ensure that the latches – which keep the collector head in place – are well secured. Following the test, the mission team received telemetry confirming that the head is properly secured in the SRC.

Before the sampler head can be sealed into the SRC, two mechanical parts on the TAGSAM arm must first be disconnected – these are the tube that carried the nitrogen gas to the TAGSAM head during sample collection and the TAGSAM arm itself. Over the next several hours, the mission team will command the spacecraft to cut the tube and separate the collector head from the TAGSAM arm. Once the team confirms these activities have executed as planned, they will command the spacecraft to seal the SRC.

[Extravoice]

That’s really good news. There is concern that a loose pebble could get caught in the wrong place and jam things. I’ll breathe a sigh of relief when the lid finally seals.

[CJSF]

That’s really good news. There is concern that a loose pebble could get caught in the wrong place and jam things. I’ll breathe a sigh of relief when the lid finally seals.

Various people related to the mission seem to be saying that it has, via Twitter!

CJSF

[KaiYeves]

I guess you could say they had... too much of a good thing?

[bknight]

Various people related to the mission seem to be saying that it has, via Twitter!

CJSF

Yes, I watched a video of the cover closed.

[selvaarchi]

"NASA's pioneering OSIRIS-REx probe has bagged up its precious asteroid sample for return to Earth."

https://www.space.com/nasa-osiris-re...steroid-sample

OSIRIS-REx has finished stowing the bits of the carbon-rich asteroid Bennu that it snagged last Tuesday (Oct. 20), successfully locking the material into the spacecraft's return capsule, mission team members announced Thursday (Oct. 29).

And the sample appears to be substantial — far heftier than the 2.1 ounces (60 grams) the mission had set as a target, team members said. Indeed, OSIRIS-REx collected so much material on Oct. 20 that its sampling head couldn't close properly; the head's sealing mylar flap was wedged open in places by protruding Bennu pebbles.

The OSIRIS-REx team noticed that issue last week when examining photos of the head and its collected sample; flakes of escaped asteroid material drifted through the frames. To minimize the amount lost, the team decided to expedite the precise and complex stowing procedure, which was supposed to happen next week.

So, over the course of 36 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday (Oct. 27 and Oct. 28), engineers directed OSIRIS-REx to deposit the sampling head, which sat at the end of the probe's robotic arm, into the return capsule; tug on the head to make sure it was secured properly; sever connections with the robotic arm; and lock up the return capsule via the locking of two latches.

[Trebuchet]

How long to get back?

[Superluminal]

September 2023. Maybe a little early to speculate, but are there any plans to go to another target after it drops off its cargo?

[Trebuchet]

September 2023. Maybe a little early to speculate, but are there any plans to go to another target after it drops off its cargo?

Recycling is good!