NASA probe briefly ‘lands’ on asteroid at 334 million km to collect debris

The NASA spacecraft Osiris-Rex has successfully touched down the asteroid Bennu, located 334 million kilometers from Earth. An attempt was made to pick up space debris, which will eventually return to Earth.

The end of the robotic arm and the round mouthpiece

NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer, aka Osiris-Rex, momentarily touched Bennu with his outstretched arm to suck up dust and pebbles from the asteroid’s surface. That happened around midnight. At least, according to NASA the first data shows that the short touchdown procedure went as planned. The data shows that the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism successfully contacted the surface and fired a blast of nitrogen gas that stirred up grit so that some of it could be used with the 3.35m long arm and round mouthpiece. sucked up. Engineers have confirmed that shortly after contacting the surface, the probe ignited its engines to leave the asteroid again.

This landing procedure was carried out autonomously on the basis of pre-programmed instructions. The goal was to collect at least 60g of grit. Whether that was successful remains to be determined. For this purpose, a special SamCam camera is used, which looks at the amount of dust and grit that can be seen at the ‘mouth’ of the arm. With the right lighting conditions, photos can also be taken of the inside of the mouth. In addition, the probe may be instructed to rotate a few times on its axis to determine if sufficient debris has been collected. The first indication of whether the probe has successfully picked up debris will follow on Wednesday, as images of Bennu leaving Earth again are downloaded.

If technicians are sure, the samples will be stored on October 30, the arm will be collapsed, and Osiris-Rex will leave Bennu permanently in March next year to set course for Earth. At that moment Bennu is well ‘aligned’ with the earth, which saves fuel for the return flight. Should it be concluded that too few samples have been collected, another touchdown will take place on January 12. This will be done at an alternative location with relatively few boulders. The just successful landing took place in a crater called Nightingale, one of the few places that is fairly clear of boulders.

Osiris-Rex was launched from Earth on September 8, 2016 and reached Bennu on December 3, 2018. The probe has been in orbit around the asteroid since December 31, 2018. The robot is scheduled to return to Earth on September 24, 2023, where the capsule containing the samples will reach the Earth’s surface by parachute. The probe itself will continue to orbit the sun. Using the grit, scientists hope to learn more about what the solar system looked like billions of years ago. Asteroids like Bennu are, as it were, the debris that was left when the planets formed in our solar system. Bennu is a relatively small asteroid with a radius of about 260 meters. The choice for the Osiris-Rex mission fell on this boulder because Bennu is relatively close to Earth and because the asteroid orbits almost in the same plane around the sun.