OSIRIS-REx touchdown on asteroid Bennu

Hold on. That’s today. What time?

Full mission coverage and participants (all times USA Eastern)
1 pm Eastern Oct 19 would be 4 am Oct 20 in eastern Australia
3 pm Eastern Oct 19 would be 6 am Oct 20 in eastern Australia

Monday, October 19

1 p.m. – Asteroid Science and Planetary Defense media teleconference with the following participants:

Lori Glaze, Planetary Science Division director, NASA Headquarters, Washington Hal Levison, Lucy mission principal investigator, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Psyche mission principal investigator, Arizona State University, Tempe Andrea Riley, DART mission program executive, NASA Headquarters Jamie Elsila Cook, co-investigator for the NASA Astrobiology Institute at the Goddard Center for Astrobiology and OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return science team collaborator

For dial-in information, media should contact Alana Johnson at alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov no later than 11 a.m. Oct. 19.

3 p.m. – OSIRIS-REx Science and Engineering televised briefing with the following participants:

Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington Lori Glaze, Planetary Science Division director, NASA Headquarters Heather Enos, OSIRIS-REx deputy principal investigator, University of Arizona, Tucson Kenneth Getzandanner, OSIRIS-REx flight dynamics manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland Beth Buck, OSIRIS-REx mission operations program manager, Lockheed Martin Space, Littleton, Colorado

For phone bridge information, media should contact Lonnie Shekhtman at lonnie.shekhtman@nasa.gov no later than 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19.

Tuesday, October 20

1:20 to 6:30 p.m. – Live stream animation displaying OSIRIS-REx’s sample collection activities in real time. The animation commences with the spacecraft’s slew into position for the Orbit Departure Maneuver and runs through the entire sequence of TAG events, concluding after the spacecraft’s back-away burn. Event will be broadcast on the mission’s website.

5 to 6:30 p.m. – Live broadcast from Lockheed Martin of OSIRIS-REx’s descent to the surface of Bennu and attempt at sample collection.

Hosted by Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, and Michelle Thaller, science communicator at Goddard, the broadcast will cover milestones in the last 90 minutes leading up to TAG and spacecraft back-away. It will include perspectives from team members and science leaders about the mission’s challenges and accomplishments.

A clean feed of the Mission Support Area during TAG is planned to run on NASA’s media channel.

Wednesday, October 21

5 p.m. – Post-sampling news conference – and release of new images – with the following participants:

Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator, University of Arizona, Tucson Rich Burns, OSIRIS-REx project manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland Sandra Freund, OSIRIS-REx mission operations manager, Lockheed Martin Space, Littleton, Colorado

Look out. NASA TV tonight.

mollwollfumble said:

OSIRIS-REx touchdown on asteroid Bennu

Hold on. That’s today. What time?

Full mission coverage and participants (all times USA Eastern)
1 pm Eastern Oct 19 would be 4 am Oct 20 in eastern Australia
3 pm Eastern Oct 19 would be 6 am Oct 20 in eastern Australia

Monday, October 19

1 p.m. – Asteroid Science and Planetary Defense media teleconference with the following participants:

…

https://youtu.be/QunVAWABQSc

Sample collection apparatus touchdown.

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

OSIRIS-REx touchdown on asteroid Bennu

Hold on. That’s today. What time?

Full mission coverage and participants (all times USA Eastern)
1 pm Eastern Oct 19 would be 4 am Oct 20 in eastern Australia
3 pm Eastern Oct 19 would be 6 am Oct 20 in eastern Australia

Monday, October 19

1 p.m. – Asteroid Science and Planetary Defense media teleconference with the following participants:

…

https://youtu.be/QunVAWABQSc

Sample collection apparatus touchdown.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasas-osiris-rex-seeks-to-grab-a-piece-of-asteroid-bennu/

The rubble-pile nature of Bennu adds some complexity to OSIRIS-REx’s landing. The first major milestone will come about four hours after leaving its parking orbit, when the spacecraft will start its “checkpoint burn”: it will use its thrusters to come to a momentary halt 410 feet (125 meters) above the Nightingale landing site before beginning its descent. About 11 minutes later, OSIRIS-REx will slow its descent to the surface with a “matchpoint burn,” ultimately reducing its speed to just 10 centimeters per second, with its TAGSAM arm extended out toward the asteroid.

When the arm touches the surface, a spring system inside will slow the spacecraft’s relative velocity to zero. The arm’s circular collector head will remain in contact with Bennu for up to 15 seconds, pumping nitrogen gas into the surface to kick up material for collection. The spring will then recoil and push the OSIRIS-REx away like a pogo stick before the craft fires its thrusters and returns to its parking orbit above the asteroid’s surface.

The procedure is not without its nail-biting perils. First, the spacecraft must check that there are no hazardous rocks on the surface below before beginning its descent. It will autonomously make the call on the fly, just before the matchpoint burn. The team will also be hoping the TAGSAM arm does not touch any inconveniently angled rock on the surface, which could tilt the entire spacecraft askew.

The biggest danger in this scenario is a nearby massive boulder, nicknamed “Mount Doom”. The worst-case scenario is: you come in right next to Mount Doom, tip over right toward it and fire your thrusters, and slam into that rock.

The team expects to collect anywhere from 60 grams to two kilograms of material inside the collector head. By spinning the spacecraft with the arm extended, the researchers will be able to measure the sample’s inertia and work out how much of Bennu they have collected with an accuracy of plus or minus 20 grams.

https://www.cnet.com/news/nasas-osiris-rex-set-to-land-on-asteroid-bennu-tuesday-how-to-watch-live/

The touch-and-go (TAG) sample collection of asteroid 101955 Bennu is set to go down on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at around 3:12 p.m. PT. NASA will broadcast the TAG maneuver live on NASA TV and the agency’s website starting at 2 p.m. PT Tuesday.

2 p.m Pacific Time is 8 a.m. eastern Australian time.

The Nightingale site is high-risk, high-reward. “It’s kind of a tight fit” to park a 6-meter-wide spacecraft in a 20-meter-wide crater. There are some substantial hazards even within the crater itself, such as a wall of rocks on the eastern edge. That wall includes a pointy rock, nicknamed “Mount Doom,” looming 10 meters above the sample collection site. The Nightingale landing site. Mt Doom is lower right.

It’s certainly a very rocky little rock.

Bubblecar said:

It’s certainly a very rocky little rock.

Made from mining waste.

> Full mission coverage and participants (all times USA Eastern)
1 pm Eastern Oct 19 would be 4 am Oct 20 in eastern Australia
3 pm Eastern Oct 19 would be 6 am Oct 20 in eastern Australia

Monday, October 19

1 p.m. – Asteroid Science and Planetary Defense media teleconference with the following participants:

Streaming the 1 pm live now. It’s about asteroid mission other than Osiris-REx so far. Starting with spacecraft Lucy to the Jupiter trojans.

mollwollfumble said:

Bubblecar said:

It’s certainly a very rocky little rock.

Made from mining waste.

> Full mission coverage and participants (all times USA Eastern)
1 pm Eastern Oct 19 would be 4 am Oct 20 in eastern Australia
3 pm Eastern Oct 19 would be 6 am Oct 20 in eastern Australia

Monday, October 19

1 p.m. – Asteroid Science and Planetary Defense media teleconference with the following participants:

Streaming the 1 pm live now. It’s about asteroid mission other than Osiris-REx so far. Starting with spacecraft Lucy to the Jupiter trojans.

The big advantage of Luck is the ability to visit lots of asteroids at once. Nearly doubling the total number of asteroid visits in one mission.

Streaming about mission Psyche. Psyche is one of only 9 known metallic asteroids. That’s 9 out of about 2 million. Psyche is by far the largest.

Mission DART. Planet defence by changing the motion of two asteroids. The small one is 535 feet across.

Bubblecar said:

It’s certainly a very rocky little rock.

Made from mining waste.

To be specific, mining waste from a coal mine. Bennu is carbonaceous, so we will be looking for organic molecules when the sample gets back to Earth.

You’re watching, right?

Touchdown at exactly 4:10 pm mountain time.

mollwollfumble said:

Touchdown at exactly 4:10 pm mountain time.

The first two live pre-landing briefings and question-answer sessions are over. Next one tomorrow morning.

That’s touchdown 9:10 am over here tomorrow morning. They won’t know if they collected enough sample until later in the day.

How big a sample to you think they’ll get?

dv said:

How big a sample to you think they’ll get?

I’ve got that somewhere. … They have a minimum acceptable sample size of 60 g and a maximum acceptable sample size of 2 kg.

So they are going for between those limits. If the landing tomorrow morning (our time) fails to collect at least 60 g then they’re going to try landing up to twice more to collect that amount.

That’s a lot larger than the sample size from Hayabusa II at Ryugu. That has a sample mass (data from wiki) of 0.1 g.

Dark boulder on Bennu named Gargoyle Saxum. The bright coloured stone resting on it is about the size of a person.

Bubblecar said:

Dark boulder on Bennu named Gargoyle Saxum. The bright coloured stone resting on it is about the size of a person.

Should have said “bright-toned”, it’s probably not very colourful.

Hayabusa 2 should be delivering its sample in a few weeks’ time

dv said:

Hayabusa 2 should be delivering its sample in a few weeks’ time

I wonder if it does Klissic Kitches

dv said:

Hayabusa 2 should be delivering its sample in a few weeks’ time

As soon as that. :-)

We have about 3 years to wait for OSIRIS-REx

> Tuesday, October 20. 1:20 to 6:30 p.m. – Live stream animation displaying OSIRIS-REx’s sample collection activities in real time. The animation commences with the spacecraft’s slew into position for the Orbit Departure Maneuver and runs through the entire sequence of TAG events, concluding after the spacecraft’s back-away burn. Event will be broadcast on the mission’s website.

> 5 to 6:30 p.m. – Live broadcast from Lockheed Martin of OSIRIS-REx’s descent to the surface of Bennu and attempt at sample collection.

So in eastern Australia time that’s 4:20 am to 8 am and 8 am to 9:30 am tomorrow morning.

mollwollfumble said:

dv said:

Hayabusa 2 should be delivering its sample in a few weeks’ time

As soon as that. :-)

We have about 3 years to wait for OSIRIS-REx

> Tuesday, October 20. 1:20 to 6:30 p.m. – Live stream animation displaying OSIRIS-REx’s sample collection activities in real time. The animation commences with the spacecraft’s slew into position for the Orbit Departure Maneuver and runs through the entire sequence of TAG events, concluding after the spacecraft’s back-away burn. Event will be broadcast on the mission’s website.

> 5 to 6:30 p.m. – Live broadcast from Lockheed Martin of OSIRIS-REx’s descent to the surface of Bennu and attempt at sample collection.

So in eastern Australia time that’s 4:20 am to 8 am and 8 am to 9:30 am tomorrow morning.

Everybody ready to wake up early?

If you call 8 am early.

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

dv said:

Hayabusa 2 should be delivering its sample in a few weeks’ time

As soon as that. :-)

We have about 3 years to wait for OSIRIS-REx

> Tuesday, October 20. 1:20 to 6:30 p.m. – Live stream animation displaying OSIRIS-REx’s sample collection activities in real time. The animation commences with the spacecraft’s slew into position for the Orbit Departure Maneuver and runs through the entire sequence of TAG events, concluding after the spacecraft’s back-away burn. Event will be broadcast on the mission’s website.

> 5 to 6:30 p.m. – Live broadcast from Lockheed Martin of OSIRIS-REx’s descent to the surface of Bennu and attempt at sample collection.

So in eastern Australia time that’s 4:20 am to 8 am and 8 am to 9:30 am tomorrow morning.

Everybody ready to wake up early?

If you call 8 am early.

Not this early. Goodnight.

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

As soon as that. :-)

We have about 3 years to wait for OSIRIS-REx

> Tuesday, October 20. 1:20 to 6:30 p.m. – Live stream animation displaying OSIRIS-REx’s sample collection activities in real time. The animation commences with the spacecraft’s slew into position for the Orbit Departure Maneuver and runs through the entire sequence of TAG events, concluding after the spacecraft’s back-away burn. Event will be broadcast on the mission’s website.

> 5 to 6:30 p.m. – Live broadcast from Lockheed Martin of OSIRIS-REx’s descent to the surface of Bennu and attempt at sample collection.

So in eastern Australia time that’s 4:20 am to 8 am and 8 am to 9:30 am tomorrow morning.

Everybody ready to wake up early?

If you call 8 am early.

> Tuesday, October 20. 1:20 to 6:30 p.m. – Live stream animation displaying OSIRIS-REx’s sample collection activities in real time. The animation commences with the spacecraft’s slew into position for the Orbit Departure Maneuver and runs through the entire sequence of TAG events, concluding after the spacecraft’s back-away burn. Event will be broadcast on the mission’s website.

I’m not sure if I’ve missed this, no I haven’t, the live animation is just a bit slow right now because not much is happening.

https://www.asteroidmission.org/livestream/

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

As soon as that. :-)

We have about 3 years to wait for OSIRIS-REx

> Tuesday, October 20. 1:20 to 6:30 p.m. – Live stream animation displaying OSIRIS-REx’s sample collection activities in real time. The animation commences with the spacecraft’s slew into position for the Orbit Departure Maneuver and runs through the entire sequence of TAG events, concluding after the spacecraft’s back-away burn. Event will be broadcast on the mission’s website.

> 5 to 6:30 p.m. – Live broadcast from Lockheed Martin of OSIRIS-REx’s descent to the surface of Bennu and attempt at sample collection.

So in eastern Australia time that’s 4:20 am to 8 am and 8 am to 9:30 am tomorrow morning.

Everybody ready to wake up early?

If you call 8 am early.

> Tuesday, October 20. 1:20 to 6:30 p.m. – Live stream animation displaying OSIRIS-REx’s sample collection activities in real time. The animation commences with the spacecraft’s slew into position for the Orbit Departure Maneuver and runs through the entire sequence of TAG events, concluding after the spacecraft’s back-away burn. Event will be broadcast on the mission’s website.

I’m not sure if I’ve missed this, no I haven’t, the live animation is just a bit slow right now because not much is happening.

https://www.asteroidmission.org/livestream/

Just completed the spacecraft slew operation. It’s now facing Bennu. 1,027 metres to touchdown.

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

Everybody ready to wake up early?

If you call 8 am early.

> Tuesday, October 20. 1:20 to 6:30 p.m. – Live stream animation displaying OSIRIS-REx’s sample collection activities in real time. The animation commences with the spacecraft’s slew into position for the Orbit Departure Maneuver and runs through the entire sequence of TAG events, concluding after the spacecraft’s back-away burn. Event will be broadcast on the mission’s website.

I’m not sure if I’ve missed this, no I haven’t, the live animation is just a bit slow right now because not much is happening.

https://www.asteroidmission.org/livestream/

Just completed the spacecraft slew operation. It’s now facing Bennu. 1,027 metres to touchdown.

First Bennu features observed by NFT. 820 metres to touchdown.

Start OTES data collection. 725 metres to touchdown.

mollwollfumble said:

Start OTES data collection. 725 metres to touchdown.

Communication at 40 bits per second. Such speed.

240 metres to touchdown.

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

Start OTES data collection. 725 metres to touchdown.

Communication at 40 bits per second. Such speed.

240 metres to touchdown.

Site keeps timing out for me.

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

Start OTES data collection. 725 metres to touchdown.

Communication at 40 bits per second. Such speed.

240 metres to touchdown.

Site keeps timing out for me.

Which site? I’m watching on two sites at once.

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive is the main one now. Switch to this.

https://www.asteroidmission.org/livestream/ gives me background on attitude, distance and time. It does time out.

This image should already show the landing site, because we’re now in final spacecraft orientation.

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

Communication at 40 bits per second. Such speed.

240 metres to touchdown.

Site keeps timing out for me.

Which site? I’m watching on two sites at once.

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive is the main one now. Switch to this.

https://www.asteroidmission.org/livestream/ gives me background on attitude, distance and time. It does time out.

This image should already show the landing site, because we’re now in final spacecraft orientation.

Landing site visible now. Y-wing solar arrays to help avoid rocks.

Checkpoint burn in 2 minutes.

Yes I cen see it on the NASA site now. The guy with the clear face mask. can see his lips move but is it a safe mask?

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

Site keeps timing out for me.

Which site? I’m watching on two sites at once.

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive is the main one now. Switch to this.

https://www.asteroidmission.org/livestream/ gives me background on attitude, distance and time. It does time out.

This image should already show the landing site, because we’re now in final spacecraft orientation.

Landing site visible now. Y-wing solar arrays to help avoid rocks.

Checkpoint burn in 2 minutes.

70 metres to landing site.

roughbarked said:

Yes I cen see it on the NASA site now. The guy with the clear face mask. can see his lips move but is it a safe mask?

If they cared about safety, everybody would have been vaccinated.

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

Yes I cen see it on the NASA site now. The guy with the clear face mask. can see his lips move but is it a safe mask?

If they cared about safety, everybody would have been vaccinated.

Fair enough.

matchpoint completed. 50 metres to touchdown. 1 m position accuracy.

mollwollfumble said:

matchpoint completed. 50 metres to touchdown. 1 m position accuracy.

37 metres to touchdown.

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

matchpoint completed. 50 metres to touchdown. 1 m position accuracy.

37 metres to touchdown.

The above distances were 8 metres too small.

About 17 metres to touchdown.

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

matchpoint completed. 50 metres to touchdown. 1 m position accuracy.

37 metres to touchdown.

The above distances were 8 metres too small.

About 17 metres to touchdown.

Sample complete and exiting at high speed.
The nitrogen bottles fired correctly.

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

37 metres to touchdown.

The above distances were 8 metres too small.

About 17 metres to touchdown.

Sample complete and exiting at high speed.
The nitrogen bottles fired correctly.

Already 80 metres away.

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

37 metres to touchdown.

The above distances were 8 metres too small.

About 17 metres to touchdown.

Sample complete and exiting at high speed.
The nitrogen bottles fired correctly.

“We are goiing to make contact with the asteroid surface”.

Touchdown declared.

roughbarked said:

Touchdown declared.

backed off 210 metres so far. Solar panels back in their normal position (had been moved to avoid boulders).

Damn missed all that, I love a touchdown.
Where was that info coming from Moll?

Peak Warming Man said:

Damn missed all that, I love a touchdown.
Where was that info coming from Moll?

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

roughbarked said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Damn missed all that, I love a touchdown.
Where was that info coming from Moll?

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

and
https://www.asteroidmission.org/livestream/

i had both websites open. Now 920 metres up and looks like its heading out into interstellar space.

I hope they know how to stop it.

One chap on NASA TV has been working on this project for 16 years, a third of his life.

ABC News describes the mission as a ‘rubble grab’.

captain_spalding said:

One chap on NASA TV has been working on this project for 16 years, a third of his life.

ABC News describes the mission as a ‘rubble grab’.

One time their headline is relative?

roughbarked said:

captain_spalding said:

One chap on NASA TV has been working on this project for 16 years, a third of his life.

ABC News describes the mission as a ‘rubble grab’.

One time their headline is relative?

I was thinking of how reductionist it is to sum up the effort and ingenuity that went into the mission as a ‘rubble grab’.

captain_spalding said:

roughbarked said:

captain_spalding said:

One chap on NASA TV has been working on this project for 16 years, a third of his life.

ABC News describes the mission as a ‘rubble grab’.

One time their headline is relative?

I was thinking of how reductionist it is to sum up the effort and ingenuity that went into the mission as a ‘rubble grab’.

They’ve been reading the Daily Telegraph too often?

captain_spalding said:

roughbarked said:

captain_spalding said:

One chap on NASA TV has been working on this project for 16 years, a third of his life.

ABC News describes the mission as a ‘rubble grab’.

One time their headline is relative?

I was thinking of how reductionist it is to sum up the effort and ingenuity that went into the mission as a ‘rubble grab’.

It’s more a “dust grab” anyway.

In a truly remarkable feat of engineering, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx has scooped a sample of soil from the surface of asteroid Bennu, as it hurtles through space some 205 million miles from Earth. The spacecraft successfully touched the asteroid Bennu on Tuesday at 6:11 pm EDT and collected a 2-oz (57-g) sample of its surface.

Launched atop an Atlas/Centaur booster from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on September 8, 2016 at 7:05 pm EDT, the robotic OSIRIS-REx probe spent four years matching orbits to rendezvous with Bennu before making a detailed survey of the body’s surface to find a safe area of scientific interest.

Because Bennu is 205 million miles (330 million km) from Earth, it takes a radio signal 18 minutes to reach the spacecraft from mission control, so today’s Touch-And-Go (TAG) maneuver was carried out under completely autonomous control by the onboard computer, relying on updated instructions from NASA engineers.

During the approach, the robotic arm called the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) was deployed with its disk-shaped sample collection head forward and the solar panels angled back to avoid accidental contact with the asteroid. The spacecraft then slowly approached the 26-ft (8-m) diameter “Nightingale” landing site from its normal orbit altitude of 2,500 ft (770 m) using its Natural Feature Tracking system to make a safe approach and then pull back from Bennu before a collision could occur.

When the arm made contact with the asteroid surface for about 15 seconds, a blast of nitrogen gas dislodged a small, carbon-rich sample of pebbles and soil, which were collected by the sampler head and then stowed. If it turns out that insufficient material is recovered, the spacecraft will try again at a different area in January 2021. Otherwise, the current sample will be placed in a return capsule and in March 2021, OSIRIS-REx will depart from Bennu and begin its journey back to Earth.

The sample return capsule will separate from the mothership in September 2023, reenter the Earth’s atmosphere to land at the Utah Test and Training Range for collection and be transferred to NASA’s Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston for storage and distribution to select research teams.

This is a first for NASA, but JAXA’s Hayabusa robotic spacecraft successfully touched down on asteroid Itokawa in November 2005 and collected samples that were returned to Earth on 13 June 2010. The follow-up Hayabusa2 mission also landed on asteroid Ryugu and collected samples that are due to arrive back on Earth on December 6, 2020.

https://newatlas.com/space/nasas-osiris-rex-touch-go-bennu-asteroid-surface-sample/

captain_spalding said:

One chap on NASA TV has been working on this project for 16 years, a third of his life.

ABC News describes the mission as a ‘rubble grab’.

That’s the best description I’ve seen yet. Only it’s not really a ‘grab’. More like a ‘blow job’.

> Wednesday, October 21
> 5 p.m. – Post-sampling news conference – and release of new images

That’s 8 am today

mollwollfumble said:

captain_spalding said:

One chap on NASA TV has been working on this project for 16 years, a third of his life.

ABC News describes the mission as a ‘rubble grab’.

That’s the best description I’ve seen yet. Only it’s not really a ‘grab’. More like a ‘blow job’.

> Wednesday, October 21
> 5 p.m. – Post-sampling news conference – and release of new images

That’s 8 am today

Ten minutes.
https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

Smallest object ever orbited.
A full 15 seconds on surface.

Touchdown. Crushed a rock on touchdown.

On a hyperbolic exit trajectory from Bennu, still. 80 km away, (about 150 asteroid diameters). Will stop that on Friday.

Next step is to photograph the sample head looking for sample.
After that will weigh the sample. Final report from that on Monday.

Had a thought. We should be able to see the material ejected from Bennu by the gas when it hits Earth’s atmosphere in a few years.

NASA probe picked up so much asteroid material it’s shedding the extra into space
The mission team is scrambling to secure its cargo but it won’t know how much it has managed to save until the probe makes it back to Earth in 2023.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-24/nasa-probe-leaking-asteroid-samples-osiris-rex-bennu/12810206

roughbarked said:

NASA probe picked up so much asteroid material it’s shedding the extra into space
The mission team is scrambling to secure its cargo but it won’t know how much it has managed to save until the probe makes it back to Earth in 2023.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-24/nasa-probe-leaking-asteroid-samples-osiris-rex-bennu/12810206

As long as a lot of it doesn’t fall out on the way back and end up at the bottom of the universe.

Peak Warming Man said:

roughbarked said:

NASA probe picked up so much asteroid material it’s shedding the extra into space
The mission team is scrambling to secure its cargo but it won’t know how much it has managed to save until the probe makes it back to Earth in 2023.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-24/nasa-probe-leaking-asteroid-samples-osiris-rex-bennu/12810206

As long as a lot of it doesn’t fall out on the way back and end up at the bottom of the universe.

LOL

roughbarked said:

NASA probe picked up so much asteroid material it’s shedding the extra into space
The mission team is scrambling to secure its cargo but it won’t know how much it has managed to save until the probe makes it back to Earth in 2023.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-24/nasa-probe-leaking-asteroid-samples-osiris-rex-bennu/12810206

You’re ahead of me. I just picked that up in the news.
http://www.sci-news.com/space/osiris-rex-sufficient-sample-asteroid-bennus-regolith-08986.html

No attempt will be made to measure how much sample there is. Because the photo of the sample collection apparatus shows plenty of chunks floating loose. The centrifuge experiment is cancelled because it may result in lost matter. And also, the braking manoeuvre to keep Osiris-Rex near Bennu is also cancelled or postponed because of the danger that high accelerations may result in material loss.

“This series of images from OSIRIS-REx’s SamCam camera shows that the spacecraft’s sampler head is full of rocks and dust collected from the surface of Bennu. Image credit: NASA.”

Touchdown, the movie.

https://youtu.be/F6Tkb8syTK8

The sample size (approximate) ought to become known by the manoeuvring jets dynamics on the way back to Earth.
It’s plenty big enough anyway.