Unexpected discovery: Scientists stumble upon dark material in asteroid sample dropped from space

Taking a first glimpse of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu's sample, the scientists stumbled upon an abundance of dark, fine-grained material on the inside part of the container's base and lid. The unexpected debris is likely to reveal key information regarding the asteroid before they analyse the primary sample.

The historic landing of the sample on September 24 in the Utah desert marked the culmination of NASA’s 7-year OSIRIS-Rex mission which went to asteroid Bennu from Earth, touched down on the surface of the asteroid and collected samples and then dropped the sample back to the Earth.

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The canister was whisked away by the mission team the day after it arrived at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston which has a clean room built specially for analysing the cosmic sample.

What mysteries of the universe the Bennu sample can reveal?

The asteroids are remnants left out from the solar system's formation and offer insights into how those days when planets were formed and settled in an orbit. However, near-Earth asteroids always pose a threat to our planet so it is important to understand their orbits and composition. This is the best way to deflect space rocks when they are on a collision course with Earth.

When the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) head was used by OSIRIS-REx briefly to disturb the surface of asteroid Bennu and collect a sample in October 2020, so many materials were gathered by it that particles were seen drifting off slowly into space before the head

When OSIRIS-REx briefly used its TAGSAM, or Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism head, to disturb the surface of Bennu and collect a sample in October 2020, it gathered so much material that particles could be seen slowly drifting off into space before the head was put inside the canister.

WATCH |Asteroid dust on its way to Utah

Hence, the scientists decided to do a quick analysis of any material they discovered upon opening the canister and they discovered plenty of it before they could reach the bulk of the sample which is kept in the mechanism head and it will take time for scientists to collect all the material.
“The very best ‘problem’ to have is that there is so much material, it’s taking longer than we expected to collect it,” stated Christopher Snead, deputy OSIRIS-REx curation lead, in a statement.

“There’s a lot of abundant material outside the TAGSAM head that’s interesting in its own right. It’s really spectacular to have all that material there," he added.

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