[ad_1]
NEW DELHI: Nearly a month after Nasa’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) spacecraft capped its 7-year mission with the successful deposit of a pristine sample of surface material from the asteroid Bennu, in the Utah desert, the space agency is struggling to open the canister to get at the space rocks.
Scientists have collected rock and dust from outside the canister, but the bulk of the sample remains stuck inside.
For the past week, the team at Nasa’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston has been having a hard time opening the ‘Tagsam’ (Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism) head, a round sampler head at the end of an articulated arm on the spacecraft that was used to grab the sample from the asteroid. The Tagsam is where the bulk of the asteroid sample is, and it is therefore being carefully handled by members of the team through a specialised glovebox under the flow of nitrogen to prevent contamination.
Scientists are hoping to analyse the sample to explore the origins of our solar system.
“After multiple attempts at removal, the team discovered two of the 35 fasteners on the Tagsam head could not be removed with the current tools approved for use in the OSIRIS-REx glovebox,” Nasa wrote in a blogpost. “The team has been working to develop and implement new approaches to extract the material inside the head, while continuing to keep the sample safe and pristine.”
When the aluminum lid to the sample canister was first removed, the mission team found black dust and debris on the avionics deck of the canister.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/nasa-unveils-first-asteroid-samples-delivered-by-osiris-rex-spacecraft/photostory/104358599.cms
On October 11, Nasa showed samples collected from the outside of the Tagsam head while adding that it still hasn’t opened the sample canister yet.
“The only problem is a great problem and that’s we’ve found a lot more sample than we’re anticipating before even getting into the Tagsam,” Francis McCubbin, curator at Nasa’s JSC, had said during a live event.
“The tools for any proposed solution to extract the remaining material from the head must be able to fit inside the glovebox and not compromise the scientific integrity of the collection, and any procedures must be consistent with the clean room’s standards,” Nasa wrote in its blog post.
Over the next few weeks, the team will try to come up with new ways to extract the rest of the sample.
The asteroid samples extracted so far, however, exceed the mission’s goal of collecting 60 grams of debris from the asteroid, said Nasa.
To date, the space agency has recovered 70.3 grams of rocks and dust. The team behind the mission has also gotten a head start in analyzing the samples and found an abundance of carbon and water molecules.
The OSIRIS-REx mission launched in September 2016 and reached asteroid Bennu in December 2018. After nearly two years of observations, the spacecraft landed on Bennu and snagged a sample from its surface in October 2020. OSIRIS-REx dropped off the asteroid samples in the Utah desert on September 24.
Scientists have collected rock and dust from outside the canister, but the bulk of the sample remains stuck inside.
For the past week, the team at Nasa’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston has been having a hard time opening the ‘Tagsam’ (Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism) head, a round sampler head at the end of an articulated arm on the spacecraft that was used to grab the sample from the asteroid. The Tagsam is where the bulk of the asteroid sample is, and it is therefore being carefully handled by members of the team through a specialised glovebox under the flow of nitrogen to prevent contamination.
Scientists are hoping to analyse the sample to explore the origins of our solar system.
“After multiple attempts at removal, the team discovered two of the 35 fasteners on the Tagsam head could not be removed with the current tools approved for use in the OSIRIS-REx glovebox,” Nasa wrote in a blogpost. “The team has been working to develop and implement new approaches to extract the material inside the head, while continuing to keep the sample safe and pristine.”
When the aluminum lid to the sample canister was first removed, the mission team found black dust and debris on the avionics deck of the canister.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/nasa-unveils-first-asteroid-samples-delivered-by-osiris-rex-spacecraft/photostory/104358599.cms
On October 11, Nasa showed samples collected from the outside of the Tagsam head while adding that it still hasn’t opened the sample canister yet.
“The only problem is a great problem and that’s we’ve found a lot more sample than we’re anticipating before even getting into the Tagsam,” Francis McCubbin, curator at Nasa’s JSC, had said during a live event.
“The tools for any proposed solution to extract the remaining material from the head must be able to fit inside the glovebox and not compromise the scientific integrity of the collection, and any procedures must be consistent with the clean room’s standards,” Nasa wrote in its blog post.
Over the next few weeks, the team will try to come up with new ways to extract the rest of the sample.
The asteroid samples extracted so far, however, exceed the mission’s goal of collecting 60 grams of debris from the asteroid, said Nasa.
To date, the space agency has recovered 70.3 grams of rocks and dust. The team behind the mission has also gotten a head start in analyzing the samples and found an abundance of carbon and water molecules.
The OSIRIS-REx mission launched in September 2016 and reached asteroid Bennu in December 2018. After nearly two years of observations, the spacecraft landed on Bennu and snagged a sample from its surface in October 2020. OSIRIS-REx dropped off the asteroid samples in the Utah desert on September 24.
[ad_2]
Source link
More Stories
We can’t wait to face India in the final: Pat Cummins | Cricket News
Railways plans 3,000 additional trains in next 4-5 years to minimise number of waitlisted tickets | India News
Faridabad: Man dies after ‘falling from hotel room window’ while partying with friends