Double the Sample, Double the Success: NASA Collects More Bennu Asteroid Material

On September 24, 2023, NASA celebrated a groundbreaking achievement as its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft returned to Earth carrying 4.29 ounces (121.6 grams) of asteroid material from Bennu. This event set a new record for the most substantial asteroid sample collected in space, significantly exceeding the mission’s initial goal of at least 60 grams, as announced by NASA on Saturday.

Even before fully opening the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) head, it was clear that the mission’s scientific targets had been greatly surpassed.

By October 2023, specialists from the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston had meticulously extracted small rocks and dust from the TAGSAM head’s large canister and directly from the TAGSAM head using its mylar flap, according to a NASA blog post.

These precious, carbon-rich samples from Bennu, which represent NASA’s first asteroid collection, are now securely housed in a dedicated curation laboratory at the Johnson Space Center.

The samples’ arrival in September concluded their journey back to Earth, which began three years earlier when they were collected from Bennu. Despite the potential for a more substantial collection, the sample retrieval was partially compromised when rocks jammed the container’s lid, resulting in some material escaping.

Following this successful mission, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is venturing towards another asteroid, planning only a flyby without collecting samples.

The OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) mission, a robotic space endeavor launched in September 2016, reached Bennu in December 2018 with the aim of studying and returning a sample from the asteroid to Earth. This mission sought to shed light on the solar system’s origins, investigate the composition of near-Earth asteroids like Bennu, and evaluate their potential as resources.

After gathering the samples in October 2020, OSIRIS-REx embarked on its journey back to Earth, culminating in the sample delivery in September 2023. The analysis of these samples promises to unlock insights into the early solar system and the processes that led to the formation of planets, including Earth.