NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collects significant amount of asteroid

Science Daily ^ | 23 October 2020

[SunkenCiv]

"Scott Manley here..."

NASA's OSIRIS REx spacecraft was supposed to grab a sample of the asteroid Bennu so that it could be returned to Earth for analysis. The spacecraft grabbed the sample on Tuesday, but, it's taken a few days to actually get photos of the tool and now it's realized they have a problem with too much material. Larger pieces of regolith have kept the sample head from closing properly, so material is slowly being lost.
As a result, the mission operators are skipping past a number of important tests and going straight to storing the sample for return to avoid losing more.

NASA's OSIRIS REx Mission Ends Up With More Than It Expected

[zeestephen]

Thanks for the update, Sunken Civ.

The first photos I saw clearly showed small pebbles floating around the partially open flap.

Bad luck - it was probably impossible to estimate exactly what level of air blast was necessary to elevate dust and rocks into the collection tool.

Very painful to think about all the samples that leaked out.

[SunkenCiv]

Heh, they'll have enough. :^)

My pleasure.

[MHGinTN]

Or remains from Tiamat which Mars orbited as a moon.

[Red Badger]

I’ve seen this movie.
It doesn’t end well.................................

[Red Badger]

I've seen this movie. It doesn't end well................................. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monolith_Monsters

[SunkenCiv]

Run for your lives!!!

[Red Badger]

The rocks are safe as long as they don’t get WET!......................

[Fresh Wind]

2 ounces of gold are worth about $3800.

How much did we pay for 2 ounces of asteroid dirt?

[SunkenCiv]

Sample returns from other celestial bodies are safe as long as they don't go to Wuhan first.