NEW YORK, BRONX (ORDO News) — Space missions always bring unexpected discoveries, and NASA‘s mission to collect a sample of the asteroid Bennu was no exception. Once the sample arrived on Earth in late September, scientists were faced with an unexpected surprise – an abundance of material that required additional time and effort to analyze.
Inside the sample, “black dust and debris” was found covering the cover and the Touch-and-Go Sample Collection Mechanism (TAGSAM). According to OSIRIS-REx deputy mission director Christopher Snead, the amount of material turned out to be so impressive that its collection and analysis takes longer than originally expected.
“The biggest problem is that there is so much material that it takes longer to collect it than we expected,” Snide said. “There is a lot of material outside the TAGSAM head that is interesting in its own right. It’s really impressive to have all this material there.”
However, this “problem” rather becomes a boon for science. The abundance of material, although it has slowed the process, provides scientists with a unique opportunity to study asteroid Bennu in more depth. According to NASA, the samples will be analyzed in a variety of ways, including scanning electron microscopy, infrared measurements and X-ray diffraction.
OSIRIS-REx sample analysis team member Lindsey Keller said, “We have all the microanalytical techniques we can use to really take it apart, almost down to the atoms.”
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News agencies contributed to this report, edited and published by ORDO News editors.
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