Houston, TX – Curators at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston celebrated a major breakthrough as they successfully opened a canister containing samples of asteroid dust from the 4.6 billion-year-old asteroid Bennu. The canister had parachuted down into the Utah desert four months ago after a daring mission by NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft.
The extraction of the dust samples was initially hindered by two stuck fasteners, which prevented access to some of the materials collected in 2020. However, the space administration announced on Friday that the fasteners had finally been removed, allowing scientists to retrieve the remaining material.
The successful opening of the canister was met with excitement from the planetary science division at NASA, who posted on Twitter, “It’s open! It’s open!” along with a photograph of the dust and small rocks inside. The team in Houston had to design custom tools made of surgical-grade, non-magnetic stainless steel to avoid any contamination of the samples by Earthly air.
According to NASA, the 9-ounce sample now retrieved will undergo thorough analysis. These samples hold significant value as they are some of the oldest materials formed in our solar system. Ashley King from London’s Natural History Museum explained that such samples provide crucial insights into the formation and composition of planets like Earth.
The Osiris-Rex mission, which collected the material from Bennu, is a billion-dollar endeavor aiming to study space rocks from the earliest days of the solar system. The spacecraft is now on its way to explore a peanut-shaped asteroid called Apophis. Initially, there were concerns that Apophis could potentially collide with Earth, but astronomers have since determined that it will pass closer to Earth in 2029 than any object of its size ever has.
Eileen Stansbery, the division chief for Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) at Johnson, expressed excitement about the remaining treasures that Osiris-Rex holds. Dr. Nicole Lunning, the Osiris-Rex curator at Johnson, praised the curation team’s resilience in unlocking the canister and expressed their joy at the successful outcome.
The opening of this canister marks a significant milestone for the Osiris-Rex mission and provides scientists with invaluable materials to study the early solar system. The analysis of these samples will contribute to our understanding of how planets like Earth were formed and the recipes that led to the creation of habitable environments.