NASA making final preparations for asteroid sample delivery by spacecraft this month

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is working on its final preparations for the landing on Earth of a precious asteroid sample next month. NASA teams with the OSIRIS-REx mission completed a vital test on Wednesday (August 30) by collecting a mock capsule that had fallen to Earth in the desert west of Salt Lake City at the Utah Test and Training Range of the US Department of Defence.

The process was part of the mission's final major test prior to the arrival of the actual capsule on September 24. The final preparations were a significant test before the actual capsule with its sample of the asteroid Bennu, acquired in space over three years ago.

Nicola Fox, who is the associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, said: "We are now mere weeks away from receiving a piece of solar system history on Earth, and this successful drop test ensures we're ready."

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Fox said, "Pristine material from asteroid Bennu will help shed light on the formation of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago, and perhaps even on how life on Earth began."

This drop test comes after a number of practice runs earlier this spring and summer, including capsule retrieval, spacecraft engineering operations and sample preservation processes.

The OSIRIS-REx crew is now getting ready for the actual delivery with less than four weeks till the spacecraft's arrival.

Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona, Tucson, said: "I am immensely proud of the efforts our team has poured into this endeavor. Just as our meticulous planning and rehearsal prepared us to collect a sample from Bennu, we have honed our skills for sample recovery."

NASA said that an estimated 8.8 ounces of rocky material were taken on board the capsule in 2020 from the surface of the asteroid Bennu.

In the coming years, the sample will be examined by researchers to learn more about the formation of our solar system, our planet, and the genesis of the organic materials that may have given rise to life on Earth.

Rich Burns, the project manager for OSIRIS-REx at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said: "We are now in the final leg of this seven-year journey, and it feels very much like the last few miles of a marathon, with a confluence of emotions like pride and joy coexisting with a determined focus to complete the race well."

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