The sample return capsule from NASA\u2019s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range. After years of anticipation and hard work by NASA\u2019s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security \u2013 Regolith Explorer) team, a capsule of rocks and dust collected from asteroid Bennu finally is on Earth. It landed at 8:52 a.m. MDT (10:52 a.m. EDT) on Sunday, in a targeted area of the Department of Defense\u2019s Utah Test and Training Range near Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Within an hour and a half, the capsule was transported by helicopter to a temporary clean room set up in a hangar on the training range, where it now is connected to a continuous flow of nitrogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Getting the sample under a \u201cnitrogen purge,\u201d as scientists call it, was one of the OSIRIS-REx team\u2019s most critical tasks today. Nitrogen is a gas that doesn\u2019t interact with most other chemicals, and a continuous flow of it into the sample container inside the capsule will keep out earthly contaminants to leave the sample pure for scientific analyses. The returned samples collected from Bennu will help scientists worldwide make discoveries to better understand planet formation and the origin of organics and water that led to life on Earth, as well as benefit all of humanity by learning more about potentially hazardous asteroids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCongratulations to the OSIRIS-REx team on a picture-perfect mission \u2013 the first American asteroid sample return in history \u2013 which will deepen our understanding of the origin of our solar system and its formation. Not to mention, Bennu is a potentially hazardous asteroid, and what we learn from the sample will help us better understand the types of asteroids that could come our way,\u201d said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. \u201cWith OSIRIS-REx, Psyche launch in a couple of weeks, DART\u2019s one year anniversary, and Lucy\u2019s first asteroid approach in November, Asteroid Autumn is in full swing. These missions prove once again that NASA does big things. Things that inspire us and unite us. Things that show nothing is beyond our reach when we work together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bennu sample \u2013 an estimated 8.8 ounces, or 250 grams \u2013 will be transported in its unopened canister by aircraft to NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Monday, Sept. 25. Curation scientists there will disassemble the canister, extract and weigh the sample, create an inventory of the rocks and dust, and, over time, distribute pieces of Bennu to scientists worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today\u2019s delivery of an asteroid sample \u2013 a first for the U.S. \u2013 went according to plan thanks to the massive effort of hundreds of people who remotely directed the spacecraft\u2019s journey since it launched on Sept. 8, 2016. The team then guided it to arrival at Bennu on Dec. 3, 2018, through the search for a safe sample-collection site between 2019 and 2020, sample collection on Oct. 20, 2020, and during the return trip home starting on May 10, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday marks an extraordinary milestone not just for the OSIRIS-REx team but for science as a whole,\u201d said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona, Tucson. \u201cSuccessfully delivering samples from Bennu to Earth is a triumph of collaborative ingenuity and a testament to what we can accomplish when we unite with a common purpose. But let\u2019s not forget \u2013 while this may feel like the end of an incredible chapter, it\u2019s truly just the beginning of another. We now have the unprecedented opportunity to analyze these samples and delve deeper into the secrets of our solar system.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After traveling billions of miles to Bennu and back, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft released its sample capsule toward Earth\u2019s atmosphere at 6:42 a.m. EDT (4:42 a.m. MDT). The spacecraft was 63,000 miles (102,000 kilometers) from Earth\u2019s surface at the time \u2013 about one-third the distance from Earth to the Moon. Traveling at 27,650 mph (44,500 kph), the capsule pierced the atmosphere at 10:42 a.m. EDT (8:42 a.m. MDT), off the coast of California at an altitude of about 83 miles (133 kilometers). Within 10 minutes, it landed on the military range. Along the way, two parachutes successfully deployed to stabilize and slow the capsule down to a gentle 11 mph (18 kph) at touchdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe whole team had butterflies today, but that\u2019s the focused anticipation of a critical event by a well-prepared team,\u201d said Rich Burns, project manager for OSIRIS-REx at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. \u201cFor us, this was the World Series, ninth inning, bases-loaded moment, and this team knocked it out of the park.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Radar, infrared, and optical instruments in the air and on the ground tracked the capsule to its landing coordinates inside a 36-mile by 8.5-mile (58-kilometer by 14-kilometer) area on the range. Within several minutes, the recovery team was dispatched to the capsule\u2019s location to inspect and retrieve it. The team found the capsule in good shape at 9:07 a.m. MDT (11:07 a.m. EDT) and then determined it was safe to approach. Within 70 minutes, they wrapped it up for safe transport to a temporary clean room on the range, where it remains under continuous supervision and a nitrogen purge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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