Osiris-Rex: Nasa asteroid probe ready to return to Earth after leak

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

Osiris-Rex: Nasa asteroid probe ready to return to Earth after leak

29 October 2020

A Nasa probe sent to collect rock from an asteroid several hundred million kilometres from Earth is back on track after some technical concerns.

Officials behind the Osiris-Rex probe, which landed on Bennu earlier this week, were worried after a rock wedged open the door of a container.

This meant that samples were spilling out from the craft.

But now the space agency says the rock samples have been safely sealed and the probe is ready to return to Earth.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-54738045


Bennu - the asteroid could hold clues as to how the Solar System was formed (Reuters)

[Judi Lynn]

1. NASA's asteroid-blasting spacecraft has stored over 2 pounds of alien dust and rock to bring back to

NASA's asteroid-blasting spacecraft has stored over 2 pounds of alien dust and rock to bring back to Earth
[e-mail] (Susie Neilson,Morgan McFall-Johnsen) 6 hrs ago


NASA's Osiris-Rex spacecraft successfully scooped up rocky space dust from the asteroid Bennu on Friday. But in a sense, it completed its task too well: Scientists quickly realized that the spacecraft's sample-collecting arm had gathered so much material that its valves wouldn't close. That was leading the dust to leak back into space.

"Time is of the essence," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA, said.

So this week, the mission team instructed Osiris-Rex to store its sample inside the designated return capsule ahead of schedule. On Thursday, NASA confirmed that the spacecraft had successfully done so.

"I am extremely happy with the sample that we've collected," Dante Lauretta, the Osiris-Rex mission lead, said in a briefing on Thursday. Scientists are pretty sure the spacecraft stashed at least 2 pounds (1 kilogram) of asteroid dust, also called regolith, he added.

More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/nasas-asteroid-blasting-spacecraft-has-stored-over-2-pounds-of-alien-dust-and-rock-to-bring-back-to-earth/ar-BB1aw9Ci?li=BBnb7Kz

[KY_EnviroGuy]

2. Mission official home pages here.....

OSIRIS-REx

https://www.asteroidmission.org/

A video shows the return capsule being closed and ready to come home.

Site also has mission statement, timeline and spacecraft/instrument descriptions.

NASA's mission WEB site: https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex

Sample collector head being stowed:



Thanks for posting, Eugene. This is great news.

KY...........