NASAs OSIRIS-REx objective is on the edge of returning samples of rocks and dust from asteroid Bennu, a 4.5 billion-year-old remnant of the early solar system, which will help to comprehend the function of similar asteroids in the development of planets and life on Earth. NASAs OSIRIS-REx is set to return samples from asteroid Bennu to Earth. NASAs OSIRIS-REx curation group from Johnsons ARES division and visiting objective team members practice the sample pour in a mock-up glovebox in Building 36 at Johnson in May 2023. From left to right are Jason Dworkin OSIRIS-REx job researcher from Goddard; Christopher Snead, OSIRIS-REx deputy sample curator; Curtis Calva, astromaterials processor; Rachel Funk, OSIRIS-REx lab lead processor; Julia Plummer, astromaterials processor; Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal detective and teacher of planetary science from the University of Arizona in Tucson; Nicole Lunning, OSIRIS-REx lead sample manager; Melissa Rodriguez, professional lead for astromaterials-current collections; and Kimberly Allums, contract task manager and agreement area supervisor for curation. From front left going clockwise are Michelle Thompson, OSIRIS-REx contact pad analysis deputy lead and teacher of planetary sciences at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana and Johnson group members from the ARES department Christopher Snead and Kevin Righter, OSIRIS-REx deputy sample curators; Wayland Connelly, astromaterials curation engineer; Lindsay Keller OSIRIS-REx contact pad analysis lead, and Nicole Lunning, OSIRIS-REx sample curator.
NASAs OSIRIS-REx mission is on the brink of returning samples of rocks and dust from asteroid Bennu, a 4.5 billion-year-old residue of the early solar system, which will help to understand the role of similar asteroids in the formation of planets and life on Earth. The samples, collected in 2020, are anticipated to supply insights into the prospective effect of asteroids on Earth and aid in future asteroid deflection methods. These will be examined and kept at NASAs Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) division at Johnson, the biggest repository of extraterrestrial products globally. Credit: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center
NASAs OSIRIS-REx is set to return samples from asteroid Bennu to Earth. These 4.5 billion-year-old samples will help scientists comprehend world development and lifes genesis, help in asteroid impact avoidance, and be protected for future research. Over 200 scientists worldwide will evaluate these samples in a specifically developed center at NASAs Johnson Space Center.
If whatever goes according to plan, in September 2023, OSIRIS-RExs sample return pill will separate from the spacecraft, enter the Earths environment, and parachute safely to Earth for healing at the Department of Defenses Utah Test and Training Range, situated about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City.
” The OSIRIS-REx curation team is excitedly getting ready for the Bennu samples,” stated Nicole Lunning, OSIRIS-REx lead sample manager at NASAs Johnson Space Center.
This mosaic of Bennu was produced using observations made by NASAs OSIRIS-REx spacecraft that remained in close distance to the asteroid for over two years. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
The rocks and dust, called regolith, were gathered from Bennus surface area in 2020. Bennu is likely to be an unspoiled, 4.5 billion-year-old remanent of the early solar system, so the samples ought to supply insight into the function that similar asteroids played in the development of worlds and the delivery of organic product and water to Earth that might have ultimately caused life. Data collected from the OSIRIS-REx mission will also assist researchers better comprehend asteroids that might affect Earth and notify future asteroid deflection efforts.
The brand-new OSIRIS-REx curation laboratory at NASAs Johnson Space Center going through preparations for conclusion of the glovebox nitrogen plumbing. Credit: NASA/Nicole Lunning
To examine these questions, researchers must carefully maintain, safeguard, and handle the asteroid samples, which will be taken a look at and saved in a new curation facility managed by NASAs Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science division, or ARES, at Johnson. The department is home to the worlds most extensive collection of extraterrestrial materials– including lunar rocks, solar wind particles, meteorites, and comet samples.
Nicole Lunning, Deputy OSIRIS-REx curator within the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) department at NASAs Johnson Space Center (left) with Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal private investigator and professor of planetary science from the University of Arizona in Tucson, worn clean room dress in the brand-new curation lab at Johnson. Credit: Rowan University/Harold Connolly
For two years, from late 2023 to late 2025, the science group will identify the samples and carry out the analysis required to fulfill the missions science goals. NASA will maintain a minimum of 70 percent of the sample at Johnson for more research study by researchers worldwide, consisting of future generations of researchers. A mate of more than 200 scientists all over the world will explore the regoliths residential or commercial properties, including scientists from many US institutions, NASA partners JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), CSA (Canadian Space Agency), and other scientists from around the world.
From left to right are Nicole Lunning, dressed in a cleanroom dress; Anjani Polit, mission application systems engineer from the University of Arizona; Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx contamination control officer task scientist from NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; and Harold Connolly, objective sample researcher from Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. Credit: University of Arizona/Dante Lauretta
The brand-new curation lab has actually specialized gloveboxes for managing both the OSIRIS-REx sample and the hardware utilized to grab the product from the asteroids surface area and deliver it to Earth.
” Our team is engaged in a whirlwind of activity as we prepare for the sample,” Lunning stated. “A variety of professionals are coming together to develop custom-made tools, numerous of which have actually been made onsite by Johnsons Manufacturing group and in the Innovation Design. We are carefully equipping the curation lab to safeguard the sample from potential pollutants as we rehearse complex procedures for flight hardware disassembly in gloveboxes.”
NASAs OSIRIS-REx curation team from Johnsons ARES division and checking out objective employee practice the sample put in a mock-up glovebox in Building 36 at Johnson in May 2023. From left to right are Jason Dworkin OSIRIS-REx job researcher from Goddard; Christopher Snead, OSIRIS-REx deputy sample curator; Curtis Calva, astromaterials processor; Rachel Funk, OSIRIS-REx lab lead processor; Julia Plummer, astromaterials processor; Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal detective and professor of planetary science from the University of Arizona in Tucson; Nicole Lunning, OSIRIS-REx lead sample manager; Melissa Rodriguez, contractor lead for astromaterials-current collections; and Kimberly Allums, agreement job manager and agreement area supervisor for curation. Credit: NASA
Some of the material collected from Bennus surface will be smaller than a grain of sand. “We have actually been developing custom-made tools to carefully handle these precious particles within our new gloveboxes,” said Christopher Snead, small-particle handling lead and OSIRIS-REx deputy manager at Johnson.
Curation engineers from Johnsons ARES department completing setup of the x-y-rotation phase in the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism glovebox in June 2023. From left to right are Neftali Hernandez Gomez and Salvador Martinez. Credit: NASA
With help from the ARES curation laboratories, scientists around the world are still evaluating brand-new caches of Moon rocks maintained considering that the Apollo missions in the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis effort. Lessons learned from Apollo and other missions have advanced the science behind sample defense, contingency planning, and contamination control. This tradition will continue with the Bennu samples, which will be maintained for study by researchers not yet born, using technologies not yet created, to respond to essential concerns about the solar system.
The OSIRIS-REx group practices for sample return at Johnson with a mock-up glovebox in October 2022. From front left going clockwise are Michelle Thompson, OSIRIS-REx contact pad analysis deputy lead and professor of planetary sciences at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana and Johnson staff member from the ARES division Christopher Snead and Kevin Righter, OSIRIS-REx deputy sample managers; Wayland Connelly, astromaterials curation engineer; Lindsay Keller OSIRIS-REx contact pad analysis lead, and Nicole Lunning, OSIRIS-REx sample curator. Credit: Purdue University/Michelle Thompson
Researchers of this generation will identify the residential or commercial properties of Bennus precursor chemical substances to draw up if– and how– these chemicals might have progressed into life. The mineral and chemical makeup of the samples will be evaluated to see if it compares to the analysis of information collected at the asteroid, helping to enhance future missions and the evaluation of telescopic and spacecraft data.
Christopher Snead, OSIRIS-REx deputy sample manager, the curation small particle managing lead and OSIRIS-REx deputy manager, holding a maintained Moon rock in Johnsons curation lab. Credit: NASA
NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center provides overall mission management, systems engineering, and the safety and objective guarantee for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson, is the principal investigator. The university leads the science team and the objectives science observation preparation and data processing. Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, constructed the spacecraft and offers flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace are accountable for navigating the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Curation for OSIRIS-REx, consisting of processing the sample when it shows up on Earth, will take place at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston.
International collaborations on this mission consist of CSA (contributed the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter instrument) and JAXA (Hayabusa2 sample science partnership). OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASAs New Frontiers Program, managed by NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the companys Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.