Between July 18 and July 20, NASA teams conducted crucial rehearsals for the recovery of asteroid samples that will be brought back to Earth by the OSIRIS-REx mission in September.
The space agency practiced retrieving a sample return capsule from the location where actual samples of the asteroid Bennu are planned to land on September 24.
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Throughout the year, NASA has conducted several rehearsals for various parts of the recovery operation, but this latest rehearsal is considered the most realistic.
It involved helicopter training for the team members who will be responsible for flying by helicopter to retrieve the sample capsule from its designated landing site.
Having spent seven arduous years in space, the mission now faces one of its greatest challenges—safely delivering the collected asteroid sample while ensuring it remains protected from heat, vibrations, and potential contamination from Earth.
During re-entry, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will not directly land on Earth; instead, it will “drop” a capsule containing the collected sample.
To execute this maneuver accurately, the spacecraft must enter Earth’s atmosphere at precisely the right speed and angle.
If the capsule’s angle is too high during the drop, it will “skip” off the atmosphere, leading the sample capsule to drift into outer space.
Conversely, if the angle is too low, the capsule risks burning up in Earth’s atmosphere.
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The significance of the sample lies in asteroids’ ability to preserve chemical signatures from the distant past, offering insights into the early history of our solar system.
They are like “time capsules” that potentially hold ancient building blocks of life, which makes studying them a matter of great scientific importance.
