"NASA Successfully Retrieves Organic Material and Stardust from Bennu Asteroid"
TL;DR
NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission successfully retrieved a sample from the asteroid Bennu, but struggled to open the container holding the sample upon its return to Earth. After months of effort, engineers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston used a specially designed clamp and screwdriver to finally open the container and retrieve around 70 grams of dust and rock. The sample will aid research on the composition of early asteroids and the origins of life, while the engineers will investigate why the fasteners became stuck to improve future space missions.
Topics:sciencespace-exploration#asteroid-sample#nasa#osiris-rex#sample-retrieval#space-exploration#space-mission
- NASA opens OSIRIS-REx asteroid container that was stuck for months The Washington Post
- NASA Finally Gets At Its Bits of Bennu DISCOVER Magazine
- A First Look at NASA's Bennu Asteroid Sampler WION
- OSIRIS-REx mission sample contained organic material, stardust. What that means, and what's next KJZZ
- A new space race and dust from an ancient asteroid WMFE
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