NASA's Returned Asteroid Sample Canister Contains More Asteroid Than Expected
Today's story centers around NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission to the asteroid Bennu. The spacecraft successfully returned to Earth with a cache of samples, but scientists have encountered an unexpected issue: there's too much of it. This surplus of asteroid material, while slowing down the analysis process, has potential for additional scientific breakthroughs. In 2020, OSIRIS-REx touched down on Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid. Using its specialized Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) head, it collected rock and dust samples from the asteroid's surface. When scientists at NASA's Johnson Space Center began to open the canister, they found not only the expected sample within the TAGSAM but also an unanticipated excess of material coating the lid and base of the canister.