Scientists cracking open the canister holding samples from the Bennu asteroid were recently in for a surprise of cosmic proportions after it was determined the container held an abundance of dark, fine-grained material.
The discovery was made on September 26, when officials found that more than expected samples had adhered to the inside of the container's lid and base.
The touchdown of the Bennu sample in the Utah desert on September 24 marked the successful conclusion of NASA's seven-year OSIRIS-REx mission, which covered a staggering distance of 3.86 billion miles, traveling to Bennu, collecting a sample, and returning to Earth.
With the sample now securely stored at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, ready for meticulous analysis, authorities are looking to make additional discoveries about the formation of the solar system.
Moreover, studying asteroids like Bennu is vital as they can pose a threat to Earth. Understanding their composition and orbits is crucial for developing strategies to deflect any space rocks that might be on a collision course with our planet.
The mission's original plan was to collect a small sample, but it gathered so much material during its touch-and-go maneuver on Bennu's surface in October 2020 that particles were seen drifting off into space before the head was sealed in the canister. Now, scientists are presented with the "best problem" – an abundance of material to study.
The actual asteroid sample will remain under wraps until October 11, when NASA will reveal it in a live broadcast. The TAGSAM head (Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism) will be carefully disassembled to unveil the precious cargo inside. Simultaneously, an initial analysis of the material taken from outside the TAGSAM head is already underway.
"The very best ‘problem’ to have is that there is so much material, it’s taking longer than we expected to collect it. There’s a lot of abundant material outside the TAGSAM head that’s interesting in its own right. It’s really spectacular to have all that material there," said Christopher Snead, deputy OSIRIS-REx curation lead, in a statement.
Researchers are eager to dissect this treasure trove of extraterrestrial material. The intend to utilize advanced techniques, such as scanning electron microscopes, X-rays, and infrared instruments, to examine the sample's chemical composition, detect hydrated minerals, organic particles, and identify specific minerals present on the asteroid.
While the scientific community eagerly anticipates the revelations from the Bennu sample, the spacecraft responsible for this historic mission, now known as OSIRIS-APEX, is en route to study another near-Earth asteroid, Apophis. This asteroid will come close enough to Earth in 2029 to be visible to the naked eye, promising even more exciting insights into our celestial neighbors.