Incredible photos reveal the moment NASA's OSIRIS-REx made its historic six-second touch-and-go landing on asteroid Bennu to collect samples from the surface
- On Wednesday NASA released incredible video and images showing the moment OSIRIS-REx touched down on the asteroid Bennu, more than 200 million miles away from Earth, Tuesday night
- Footage shows the spacecraft's 11-foot robotic arm crush through porous rock on the asteroid's surface
- OSIRIX-REx then fired a burst of nitrogen gas to stir up dirt and rock from surface in a 'rubble shower'
- The spacecraft spent five seconds of the six seconds of contact sucking up the material before backing away
- The team on Earth received confirmation at 6.08pm EDT that successful touchdown occurred
- While the mission was executed as planned, it will take about a week to determine if the goal of 60 grams of sample was collected
Stunning images taken from the historic OSIRIS-REx mission show the moment the spacecraft touched down on the asteroid Bennu more than 200 million miles away from Earth to collect a sample of dirt and dust Tuesday night.
On Wednesday NASA unveiled videos and images showing the moment the spacecraft pulled off the six-second touch-and-go (TAG) mission where it bounced off the asteroid’s surface and picked up samples along the way.
The triumphant $1.16 billion mission is the first American effort to take a sample from an asteroid with the hopes to unlock secrets about the origin of life on Earth.
The sample will be returned to Earth in 2023.
The images show how the spacecraft descended within three feet of the target landing spot dubbed Nightingale on the asteroid while avoiding boulders the size of buildings. Then the spacecraft's 11-foot robotic arm appeared to smash some porous rock upon initial contact on the surface.
A nitrogen gas bottle then fired on the surface to stir up material and suck it up in a 'rubble shower'.
The spacecraft spent five seconds of the six seconds of contact collecting the material before backing away, with a majority of the sample collected in the first three seconds.
Touchdown! Stunning images taken from the historic OSIRIS-REx mission show the moment the spacecraft touched down on the asteroid Bennu more than 200 million miles away from Earth to collect a sample of dirt and dust Tuesday night. Above is the moment the spacecraft's 11-foot robotic arm made initial contact with the asteroid's surface and smashed some porous rock
A nitrogen gas bottle then fired on the surface to kick up material like rocks and dust and suck it up in a 'rubble shower'. The crushed rocks and dust pictured floating in the air
The spacecraft spent five seconds of the six seconds of contact collecting the material before backing away, with a majority of the sample collected in the first three seconds. The team on Earth received confirmation at 6.08pm EDT that successful touchdown occurred
And away we go! After touchdown the spacecraft fired its thrusters to back away from the asteroid.
The team on Earth received confirmation at 6.08pm EDT that successful touchdown occurred.
After touchdown the spacecraft fired its thrusters to back away from the asteroid.
'We are on the way to returning the largest sample brought home from space since Apollo. If all goes well, this sample will be studied by scientists for generations to come!' NASA Administrator Jim Bridentine tweeted after touchdown.
The van-sized OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft is in 'good health' after the Tuesday mission, NASA said. The craft sent data and images to the mission team overnight.
While the mission was executed as planned, it will take about a week to determine how much sample was actually collected.
The required amount for the sample is about 60 grams, but the capsule can hold up to two kilograms of material.
Now mission engineers and scientists will study the images from the encounter to analyze changes to the sampling site. They’ll also direct the probe to take pictures of the collection arm to see if any particles stuck to the equipment.
On Saturday scientists will send the spacecraft into a slow spin with its robot arm extended to detect any changes in its mass from before the mission.
Now mission engineers and scientists will study the images from the encounter to analyze changes to the sampling site. They’ll also direct the probe to take pictures of the collection arm to see if any particles stuck to the equipment.
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This map by NASA shows the Nightingale Hazard Map and the TAG location (top right) and OSIRIX-REx's robotic arm making contact (bottom right)
This image captured Tuesday night shows Bennu, located more than 200 million miles away from Earth
This is the 11ft-long TAG robotic arm which NASA used to briefly touch the asteroid Bennu as part of its daring high-speed maneuver
By the time flight controllers at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado heard back from Osiris-Rex, the action already happened 18 1/2 minutes earlier, the time it takes radio signals to travel each way between Bennu and Earth.
The mission was programmed in advance and the spacecraft was instructed to operate autonomously during the unprecedented touch-and-go maneuver.
'Transcendental. I mean, I can’t believe we actually pulled this off,' Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator of the mission, said after the landing was complete.
On Wednesday Lauretta said: 'I must have watched it a hundred times last night. Particles are flying all over the place. We kind of made a mess on the surface of this asteroid. It’s the kind of mess we hoped for.'
NASA’s van-sized spacecraft with an Egyptian-inspired name has been orbiting Bennu, which is hurtling through space at 63,000 miles per hour, for nearly two years.
In the tedious 4.5-hour descent, the spacecraft touched down briefly for a handful of seconds on space rock with its arm in a landing site called Nightingale, a 52ft location in the northern hemisphere of the small asteroid the size of a few parking spaces on Earth.
Mission complete! NASA scientists monitoring the mission raise their hands and celebrate after OSIRIS-REx collected the samples for several seconds and safely fired its thrusters to back away from the asteroid Tuesday evening
By the time flight controllers heard back from Osiris-Rex, the action already happened 18 1/2 minutes earlier, the time it takes radio signals to travel each way between Bennu and Earth. However, it will take a few days before scientists can declare the mission a complete success. Right now they say the spacecraft executed its instructions as planned but it's not clear how much material was actually collected
A simulation view of the van-sized OSIRIS-Rex above descending towards the asteroid. The mission was programmed in advance and the spacecraft was instructed to operate autonomously during the unprecedented touch-and-go maneuver. With an 18-minute lag in radio communication each way, ground controllers for spacecraft builder Lockheed Martin near Denver couldn't intervene if anything went awry
The asteroid Bennu pictured above in this NASA image dated November 16, 2018
BUILDING BLOCKS OF LIFE MAY BE IN BENNU BOULDERS
Asteroid Bennu may contain the building blocks of life within its 'rubble-pile' surface, and the body was once part of a much larger, water covered world, scientists claim.
NASA's OSIRIS-Rex mission will land on Bennu on October 20 to collect samples of the space rock.
Bennu's boulders were found to contain a bright vein of carbonate
As part of the preparations for this mission, six research papers have been published looking at the history and make-up of the near Earth asteroid.
One of those papers found evidence of carbon-bearing and organic materials widespread across the surface of Bennu.
These materials were found in veins running through rocks and had to be formed as a result of free flowing water that was on the larger, long destroyed celestial body that created Bennu.
This is the first confirmed detection of these building blocks of life on a near-Earth asteroid.
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