NASA's OSIRIS-REX Makes Historic Touchdown On Asteroid Bennu To Collect Rock Samples (newatlas.com) 17
NASA's Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) sample return spacecraft has successfully touched the asteroid Bennu and collected a 2-oz sample of its surface. New Atlas reports: Launched atop an Atlas/Centaur booster from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on September 8, 2016 at 7:05 pm EDT, the robotic OSIRIS-REx probe spent four years matching orbits to rendezvous with Bennu before making a detailed survey of the body's surface to find a safe area of scientific interest. Because Bennu is 205 million miles (330 million km) from Earth, it takes a radio signal 18 minutes to reach the spacecraft from mission control, so today's Touch-And-Go (TAG) maneuver was carried out under completely autonomous control by the onboard computer, relying on updated instructions from NASA engineers.
During the approach, the robotic arm called the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) was deployed with its disk-shaped sample collection head forward and the solar panels angled back to avoid accidental contact with the asteroid. The spacecraft then slowly approached the 26-ft (8-m) diameter "Nightingale" landing site from its normal orbit altitude of 2,500 ft (770 m) using its Natural Feature Tracking system to make a safe approach and then pull back from Bennu before a collision could occur. When the arm made contact with the asteroid surface for about 15 seconds, a blast of nitrogen gas dislodged a small, carbon-rich sample of pebbles and soil, which were collected by the sampler head and then stowed. If it turns out that insufficient material is recovered, the spacecraft will try again at a different area in January 2021. Otherwise, the current sample will be placed in a return capsule and in March 2021, OSIRIS-REx will depart from Bennu and begin its journey back to Earth.
The sample return capsule will separate from the mothership in September 2023, reenter the Earth's atmosphere to land at the Utah Test and Training Range for collection and be transferred to NASA's Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston for storage and distribution to select research teams.
During the approach, the robotic arm called the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) was deployed with its disk-shaped sample collection head forward and the solar panels angled back to avoid accidental contact with the asteroid. The spacecraft then slowly approached the 26-ft (8-m) diameter "Nightingale" landing site from its normal orbit altitude of 2,500 ft (770 m) using its Natural Feature Tracking system to make a safe approach and then pull back from Bennu before a collision could occur. When the arm made contact with the asteroid surface for about 15 seconds, a blast of nitrogen gas dislodged a small, carbon-rich sample of pebbles and soil, which were collected by the sampler head and then stowed. If it turns out that insufficient material is recovered, the spacecraft will try again at a different area in January 2021. Otherwise, the current sample will be placed in a return capsule and in March 2021, OSIRIS-REx will depart from Bennu and begin its journey back to Earth.
The sample return capsule will separate from the mothership in September 2023, reenter the Earth's atmosphere to land at the Utah Test and Training Range for collection and be transferred to NASA's Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston for storage and distribution to select research teams.
Actually I'm sure they collected... (Score:1)
grams not ounces of Bennu material
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The spacecraft successfully touched the asteroid Bennu on Tuesday at 6:11 pm EDT and collected a 2-oz (57-g) sample of its surface.
Indeed. The old pound of feathers/454 grams of lead conundrum.
FTA: the animation showcasing the engineering necessary to acquire the sample is PFC.
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And more stories about the Charlie Brown Christmas special being offered on streaming, not broadcast for the first time (That's good!) but it's being offered on Apple + (that's Bad!) but for free (That's Worse Because it's Apple!)
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For the same reason we have to explain it to you.
Re:Two Front Page Stories? (Score:5, Informative)
Unlike the previous story, this is confirmation that the mission HAS captured a sample.
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In reality, they don't know for sure they've collected anything. It won't be until Saturday until it's known how much (if any) they've collected. If they didn't get enough quantity, they have enough fuel for 2 more tries.
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Re:Two Front Page Stories? (Score:4, Insightful)
"High chance" needs some context - high for near earth objects. It's chances of hitting us are 1-in-2700 in ~200 years. Slim but large enough that it would make me nervous if it were happening tomorrow.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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Unlike the previous story, this is confirmation that the mission HAS captured a sample.
It isn't. It's just incompetent reporting, claiming 2 ounces exactly when the spacecraft hasn't even determined how much it has yet. The collector can hold up to 2 kg. It's a wonder the buffoon at newatlas.com didn't claim that instead. The spacecraft is transmitting imagery of the collection attempt back to Earth at 40 bits per second, so it will be many hours before we even have pictures of the collection site before and after the attempt to compare with, and as aviators99 said, much longer than that
It makes me sad... (Score:3)
....that this story has only 13 comments while the previous post about Charlie Brown has 77. There was a time on /. when this would have had hundreds of posts.
Maybe a 3rd post about how much sample they actually obtained will garner more attention.
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I'm surprised it hasn't had more mainstream media coverage, Hayabusa and Hayabusa 2 were featured prominently on most of the media outlets I browse.
Hayabusa 2 is due to return its sample to Earth in December. Can't wait for that, hope it arrives safely.
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yea, it is sad, I mostly lurk and there is little worth lurking.
Use to have a decent amount of nasa(and contractors) engineers and scientists on this site. And it was the comments of those guys that was the treasure trove I looked forward to reading.
Even the older one, had barely any comments https://science.slashdot.org/s... [slashdot.org]