NASA specialists removed the aluminum lid from the container delivered to Earth by the OSIRIS-REx probe. Samples of the substance of the asteroid Bennu are inside it.
The capsule with the samples entered the Earth’s atmosphere on September 24. After landing on the territory of a military training site in Utah, it was airlifted to the Johnson Space Center. There is a laboratory created specifically to work with the samples delivered by OSIRIS-REx.
After being delivered to a clean room, the capsule was placed inside a glove box designed to work with bulky equipment. Next, the specialists removed the lid from it. During this operation, black particles and dust, presumably of asteroid origin, were showered from its inner surface. This confirms that OSIRIS-REx has coped with its task, and samples of Bennu’s substance are contained inside the capsule.
At the next stage, engineers will extract the TAGSAM sample collection mechanism from the capsule. It will be moved to another glove box, after which specialists will begin to disassemble it in order to get to the samples. On October 11, NASA plans to organize a live broadcast, during which it will show the whole world exactly what OSIRIS-REx managed to bring to Earth.
Earlier we talked about why the asteroid Bennu was interesting for scientists.
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