a The initial covering that surrounded Bennu’s sample container was already in place Open and full of surprises.
the operation It revealed a greater content beyond the roughly 250 grams of dust and rock debris that the sample itself would contain. According to NASA, scientists found dark dust and sand-sized particles in the so-called “avionics surface” of the scientific container.
These materials alone will have demonstrated some of the potential of what was stored in the main vessel, NASA revealed on Wednesday. As previously noted, theThe samples contain “abundant water” in the form of hydrated clay minerals.
“We can see carbon here. And also minerals and organic molecules,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson explained while showing laboratory images of the samples.
The OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule container was delivered to Johnson Space Center on September 25, after landing in the Utah desert the day before.
See arrival photos
Until you reach the sample, There was a whole process of disassembling the Touch and Go sample acquisition mechanism (Tagsam). NASA explained that the operations took place in a new laboratory designed specifically for the mission, with the aluminum cover removed inside what looks like a glove box, designed to allow work with a large piece of hardware.
When the TAGSAM is separated from the container, It will be inserted into another sealed transport container to maintain a nitrogen environment For up to about two hours. This way, the team will have enough time to slip TAGSAM into another exclusive glovebox. In the end, the goal is Speed up the disassembly process.
Once all disassembly is completed, The contents collected from the asteroid Bennu will be analyzed “To get an early look at the chemical, mineralogical and physical properties and types of rocks that can be found in the global sample.”
The research team will use it Electron microscopes, X-ray and infrared instruments to perform elemental analysis of collected materials From Benno. The results of these first observations will provide information about the chemical composition of the samples, any organic molecules present, as well as revealing the abundance of certain types of minerals.
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