NASA scientists revealed the sample collected by the OSIRIS-REx mission from near-Earth asteroid Bennu for the first time Wednesday.
A pristine asteroid sample that could serve as a time capsule from the early days of our solar system has finally been revealed. The rocks and dust contain water and a large amount of carbon, said NASA administrator Bill Nelson, which suggests that asteroids like Bennu may have delivered the building blocks of life to Earth. The sample is nearly 5% carbon by weight.
Ex spacecraft closely approached Bennu three years ago, it extended a Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism head, or TAGSAM, toward the asteroid and fired a blast of nitrogen gas. The burst of gas lifted rocks and dust all the way from 19 inches beneath the space rock’s surface. That debris flowed into the TAGSAM head. The TAGSAM also had 24 surface contact pads that touched the asteroid and trapped fine-grained material.
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NASA revealing OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample today: Watch it liveMichael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, 'Out There,' was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of
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