Comets and Asteroids

OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule Arrives At Johnson Space Center

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
NASA
September 27, 2023
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OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule Arrives At Johnson Space Center
A shipping container with the canister of asteroid Bennu sample is strapped down onboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft. The sample canister, along with disassembled capsule components and environmental samples from Utah, was transported to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Sept. 25, 2023 – one day after landing in the Utah desert. Credit: NASA/ Molly Wasser.
NASA

The first U.S. asteroid sample, delivered by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to Earth on Sept. 24, has arrived at its permanent home at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where it will be cared for, stored, and distributed to scientists worldwide.

The sample arrived in Houston at 12:40 pm ET (11:40 am CT) aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft, which landed at Ellington Field. From there, it was transferred to NASA Johnson.

The team will spend the next few weeks in the clean room at Johnson built exclusively for Bennu samples. The clean room includes custom glove boxes built to fit the sample canister containing the TAGSAM (Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism) head inside. The TAGSAM head was on the end of a robotic arm that collected rocks and dust from asteroid Bennu’s surface on October 20, 2020.

Location: Bldg. 31, Room 202 Subject: OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Science Team at the Johnson Space Center. Photographer: James Blair

Having practiced these procedures for months, scientists and technicians plan to proceed through the many steps of removing the sample from the TAGSAM. First, they plan to place the canister in the glove box and disassemble it. Then, they plan to remove the TAGSAM head, where scientists expect most sample to be, cataloging and storing every piece of hardware and asteroid dust found outside of it.

Researchers plan to analyze asteroid dust from the initial disassembly for an early glimpse into the chemical, mineralogical, and physical characteristics and rock types that may be found in the bulk sample.

NASA plans to share these initial findings, plus first images of the sample, in a live broadcast on October 11.

Astrobiology

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