Nasa English news | Nasa, Latest News & Live Updates in English | English News (Latest English News) at Lokmattimes.com

Washington, Oct 24 After touching down on asteroid Bennu, NASAs OSIRIS-REx probe team received images that confirm the spacecraft has collected more than enough material to meet one of its main mission requirements acquiring at least 60 grams of the asteroids precious surface material, the US space agency said on Saturday.In reviewing these images, the OSIRIS-REx team noticed both that the head appeared to be full of asteroid particles, and that some of these particles appeared to be escaping slowly from the sample collector.The sample collected by the spacecraft will return to Earth in 2023."Bennu continues to surprise us with great science and also throwing a few curveballs," said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for science at NASA."Although we may have to move more quickly to stow the sample, it's not a bad problem to have. We are so excited to see what appears to be an abundant sample that will inspire science for decades beyond this historic moment," he said in a statement.The team believes it has collected a sufficient sample and is on a path to stow the sample as quickly as possible.To preserve the material, the mission team decided to forego the Sample Mass Measurement activity originally scheduled for Saturday and cancelled a braking burn scheduled for Friday to minimise any acceleration to the spacecraft."From here, the OSIRIS-Rex team will focus on stowing the sample in the Sample Return Capsule (SRC), where any loose material will be kept safe during the spacecraft's journey back to Earth," NASA informed.OSIRIS-REx remains in good health, and the mission team is finalising a timeline for sample storage."We are working to keep up with our own success here, and my job is to safely return as large a sample of Bennu as possible," said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona."The loss of mass is of concern to me, so I'm strongly encouraging the team to stow this precious sample as quickly as possible."After over a decade of planning, a NASA spacecraft made history this week after it successfully touched an asteroid.Bennu offers scientists a window into the early solar system as it was first taking shape billions of years ago and flinging ingredients that could have helped seed life on Earth.( With inputs from IANS )Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

NasaFOLLOW

Nasa, Latest News

Earth's global average surface temperature in 2020 tied with 2016 as the warmest year on record, according to an analysis by NASA. ...

The departure of the SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft was called off on Monday due to bad weather conditions off the coast of Daytona Beach, Florida, USA. ...

Washington, Oct 27 NASA on Tuesday said its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is ready to perform an early stow on ... ...

Washington, Oct 27 NASA is now targeting November 14 for the launch of the SpaceX Crew-1 mission with ... ...

The NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has confirmed, for the first time, water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. This discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to cold, ...

Washington, Oct 26 If you are a science buff, get ready to get some exciting news about a ... ...

Washington, Oct 24 After touching down on asteroid Bennu, NASAs OSIRIS-REx probe team received images that confirm the ... ...