Two months on, NASA is still struggling to open sample container from asteroid Bennu

NASA's ambitious mission to uncover the mysteries of the solar system has encountered an unforeseen obstacle. Two months after securing a crucial sample from the asteroid Bennu, the space agency faces a perplexing challenge—it is unable to open the canister housing the precious extraterrestrial material.

A precious payload from Bennu

On September 24, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft triumphantly returned to Earth, carrying a special payload—an invaluable canister filled with rocks and dust collected from the surface of asteroid Bennu.

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These space rocks are of profound significance, holding potential clues to the solar system's origin and the ability to answer critical questions about Earth's formation.

The Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), designed to secure the asteroid sample, has become an unexpected challenge for NASA's scientific and engineering teams. Despite months of preparation and anticipation, NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston encountered a hurdle when attempting to unlock the TAGSAM.

NASA officially disclosed the issue on October 20, revealing that two out of the 35 fasteners on the TAGSAM head could not be removed using the current tools approved for use in the OSIRIS-REx glovebox. This marks the first time NASA has encountered such a challenge in retrieving a sample from an asteroid in space, highlighting the intricacies of the TAGSAM mechanics.

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In response to the unexpected challenge, the NASA team has been diligently working to troubleshoot the problem, adjusting their approach to opening the TAGSAM head. Despite multiple attempts, the resistant fasteners have proven formidable. The constraints of the OSIRIS-REx glovebox, designed to prevent contamination, have further complicated the process, limiting the tools that can be employed to those fitting within the glovebox.

Despite these formidable challenges, the NASA has has continued its efforts toaccess a portion of the sample. It has extracting 70.3 grams of rocks and dust from both the outside and inside of the TAGSAM head so far. Surpassing the initial goal of collecting 60 grams, this partial success has already yielded valuable insights into the composition of the asteroid, providing a silver lining amid the technical challenges faced by the space agency.

(With inputs from agencies)