When you are firing a ballistic capsule at an asteroid , touch the space vehicle down on that asteroid very concisely to pull in a sample distribution , and then returning the sample distribution to Earth , there are a mickle of opportunities for problem .
Despite the difficulty of the task , NASA successfully return a sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth inlate September . Since then , scientists havebegun to openthe sample distribution , a long , dim , and delicate operation , which the team has spent months rehearsing .
regrettably , they have now bump off a slight tear . They can not launch the Touch - and - Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism ( TAGSAM ) to get at a lot of thesample .
The “glovebox” is important, but restrictive.Image credit: NASA
" In the last week , the team at NASA ’s Johnson Space Center in Houston change its advance to opening the TAGSAM fountainhead , which check the bulk of the rocks and detritus collected by the spacecraft in 2020,“NASAsaid in an update . " After multiple attempts at removal , the squad give away two of the 35 fixing on the TAGSAM head could not be murder with the current tools approved for use in the OSIRIS - REx glovebox . "
This may vocalise like a lowly problem ( surely NASA can borrow a spanner ? ) but the problem is that any tools used by the team must be able to conform to inside the " glovebox " , which flows nitrogen in parliamentary law to keep the samplespristineand free from contamination by our own air .
As such , the squad needs to figure out how to get at thesamplesusing tools available to them , or raw peter that conform to inside the glovebox that will not compromise the samples during collection .
The team has been able to access 70.3 grams ( 2.48 ounces ) of rocks and dust from outside and inside the sample head , with a portion of the samples approachable through a mylar flap . That surpasses their initial goal of 60 grams ( 2.12 ounces ) . However , there is still material inside which can not be access via the mylar flap , being kept inside by those fixing .
NASA say the team will develop and rehearse a new proficiency for hit the fasteners in the next few week , while process the samples they have already removed for study .
