NASA’s historic mission to retrieve asteroid samples culminated with the safe landing of the Osiris-Rex spacecraft’s sample capsule in the Utah desert. After a flyby of Earth, the capsule descended from 63,000 miles above, landing on military land four hours later. Excitement filled the air as Mission Recovery Operations announced, “We have touchdown!” The landing occurred three minutes ahead of schedule, adding to the thrill. The orange striped parachute surprised everyone by opening at a height of 20,000 feet, much higher than anticipated. The capsule remained intact, securing the 4.5 billion-year-old samples from contamination. Helicopters swiftly transported the capsule to a temporary clean room at the Defense Department’s Utah Test and Training Range.
Astronaut Sunita Williams, who was in Utah for training, expressed her awe, exclaiming, “It’s like ‘Wow!’ This is just amazing. It can go from the movies, but this is reality.” Scientists estimate that the capsule holds at least one cup of debris from the carbon-rich asteroid Bennu, providing a significant amount of material for further analysis. However, the true extent of the sample won’t be known until the container is opened in the next couple of days. Unfortunately, some of the samples spilled and floated away during the collection process three years ago when the spacecraft scooped up an excessive amount of material, causing the container’s lid to jam.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson emphasized the significance of these samples, stating that they offer an extraordinary glimpse into the formation of Earth and life itself, shedding light on our solar system’s early days. Osiris-Rex embarked on its $1 billion mission in 2016, finally reaching Bennu in 2018 and collecting rubble using a vacuum arm in 2020. The spacecraft has traveled a staggering 4 billion miles throughout its journey.
Flight controllers at spacecraft builder Lockheed Martin celebrated the successful touchdown, and the recovery team quickly mobilized via helicopters to retrieve the capsule. British astronomer Daniel Brown, not directly involved in the mission, expressed high expectations for this significant sample return. He believes the samples will provide essential insights into Bennu’s early chemical composition, the formation of water, and the building blocks of life.
The capsule, along with lead scientist Dante Lauretta from the University of Arizona, will be flown to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Monday morning. There, the samples will join the hundreds of pounds of moon rocks collected by Apollo astronauts. It will take a few weeks to precisely measure the amount of material obtained from Bennu.
Bennu, measuring approximately one-third of a mile in diameter and shaped like a spinning top, is orbiting the sun 50 million miles away from Earth. It is a remnant of a much larger asteroid that broke apart. Osiris-Rex’s close-up observations of Bennu’s surface, filled with boulders and craters, will prove useful when the asteroid comes dangerously close to Earth in 2182. The data collected will aid in any future asteroid deflection efforts.
This mission marks NASA’s third successful sample return from a deep-space robotic mission. Previous endeavors include the Genesis spacecraft, which collected solar wind samples in 2004 (although compromised upon landing), and the Stardust spacecraft, which delivered comet dust in 2006. While plans to return samples from Mars are currently on hold, the Perseverance rover has been collecting core samples on the planet’s surface for eventual transport to Earth.
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