After in conclusion removing the final two fasteners on the canister shot and about 4 months after it was dropped in the Utah desert by OSIRIS - male monarch , the curation squad at NASA has finally revealed the persist sample distribution of asteroid Bennu .
The last two fastener were removed on January 10 , appropriate the squad to complete the last steps of opening the Touch - and - Go - Sample - Acquisition - Mechanism ( TAGSAM ) point and finally provide access code to the rest sample . Prior to the lid remotion , the squad had already pull in 70.3 grams ( 2.48 ounces ) of asteroid material .
Creative jumper lead Erika Blumenfeld and project lead Joe Aebersold of the Advanced Imaging and Visualization of Astromaterials squad snapped the above exposure , giving a extremely detailed , top - down view of the sample using manual gamy - resolution preciseness photography and a semi - automated focal point stacking procedure .
The next stair for the curation team will be to remove the alloy collar surrounding the canister and then prepare a glovebox that will be used to transfer the sample from the TAGSAM head into sample trays . Then , the trays will be shoot and count , before being box up and stored at NASA ’s Johnson Space Center .
It ’s been a long route to get to this point . OSIRIS - RExsuccessfully droppedthe abridgment containing the Bennu sampling back in September 2023 , but trying to get into the cannister inside proved to be sly than foretell . Two of the fastenerscouldn’t be removedand so the squad had to come up with a new game architectural plan . Eventually , on January 10 this year , the problem wassolved .
“ Our engineers and scientists have worked tirelessly behind the scenes for month to not only action the more than 70 grams of stuff we were able to get at antecedently , but also design , develop , and test newfangled tools that allowed us to move past this vault , ” said Eileen Stansbery , division headman for ARES ( Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science ) at NASA ’s Johnson Space Center , in astatement .
“ The innovation and dedication of this team has been singular . We are all emotional to see the remaining treasure OSIRIS - REx holds . ”
Although a part of the sampling isalready availablefor the general public to see , it ’ll be a while before we know the full details of what the sample has to say about asteroid Bennu . The coming weeks will give the team a chance to assess the concluding mass of the sample , which has already surpassed their destination of 60 grams ( 2.12 oz. ) . It ’s expect that the catalog of all the Bennu samples will be released later this yr .
