A top-down view of one of the containers holding rocks and dust from asteroid Bennu, with hardware scale marked in centimeters. Erika Blumenfeld, imaginative lead for the Advanced Imaging and Visualization of Astromaterials (AIVA) and Joe Aebersold, AIVA task management lead, captured this picture using manual high-resolution accuracy photography and a semi-automated focus stacking procedure. The outcome is a sample image that can be focused on to reveal extreme information. Credit: NASA/Erika Blumenfeld and Joseph AebersoldScientists now have access to in-depth info on Bennu asteroid samples, allowing them to conduct research study on these materials which might include the foundation of life.Scientists beyond NASAs OSIRIS-REx team are getting their very first close take a look at the asteroid Bennu samples readily available for independent research study simply 6 months after their shipment to Earth.The curation group at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston has actually released the OSIRIS-REx sample brochure detailing the small rocks and dust that researchers around the world can request for their research.The Significance of Bennu Samples” This is amazing since, till this point, with the exception of what has actually been shown at conferences … really no one beyond the curation or objective teams has actually had an opportunity to see the Bennu samples in information,” said Jemma Davidson, branch chief of Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at Johnson.OSIRIS-REx delivered 4.29 ounces (121.6 grams) of material from asteroid Bennu; the largest asteroid sample ever gathered in area and over twice the objectives mass requirement. Some samples have actually currently been distributed to members of the OSIRIS-REx sample analysis group, who have found evidence of natural particles and minerals bearing phosphorous and water, which together could show the structure blocks necessary for life might be found in these rocks.The OSIRIS-REx curation incorporated processing and engineering team in the H2-OREx Staging location simply outside the beautiful OSIRIS-REx laboratory. Left-to-right and front-to-back: Rachel Funk, Carla Gonzalez, Nicole Lunning, Jannatul Ferdous, Neftali Hernandez, Mari Montoya, Melissa Rodriguez, Curtis Calva, Julia Plummer, Kimberly Allums-Spencer, Gabriel Lugo, Christopher Snead, Sal Martinez, and Wayland Connelly. Credit: NASA/James BlairAccess and Research OpportunitiesThe brochure details each sample with images, weights, and descriptions. Scientists might utilize the database to find particular pieces of the Bennu sample that might support their research. To do so, they will require to send a well-justified clinical proposal of why they wish to request particular pieces, how they will perform their analysis, what they want to find out, and how their analysis might affect the sample. A comprehensive guide to submitting a proposition is offered in the sample request form on the ARES curation site. Demands will be reviewed by a panel from the Astromaterials Allocation Review Board (AARB), experts who examine sample ask for all NASA astromaterials.The due date for this first round of proposals is 5 p.m. CDT on June 25, 2024. This is the only opportunity to demand Bennu samples in 2024, but subsequent years will have spring and fall chances for requests.Achievements and Future Prospects” Building this sample catalog and making it available to the scientific neighborhood within six months of those samples returning is a remarkable accomplishment,” Davidson stated. “The curation team worked so exceptionally tough and persistently to get rid of different challenges to get the sample brochure out. Its a major accomplishment for the curation group. Its a substantial milestone for the objective, and its likewise a big deal for the wider sample analysis neighborhood.”
