Explanation:
This is what it looks like to punch an asteroid.
Last month,
NASA's robotic spacecraft OSIRIS-REx
descended toward, thumped into,
and then quickly moved away from the small near-Earth asteroid
101955 Bennu.
The featured video depicts the
Touch-And-Go (TAG) sampling event over a three-hour period.
As the movie begins, the automated
probe approaches the 500-meter, diamond-shaped, space rock as it rotates noticeably
below.
About 20 seconds into the video,
Nightingale comes into view --
a touchdown area chosen to be relatively flat and
devoid of large boulders that could damage the spaceship.
At 34 seconds, the shadow of
OSIRIS-REx's
sampling
arm
suddenly comes into view,
while very soon thereafter
rocks and gravel fly from the arm's abrupt hard impact.
The wily spacecraft
was able to capture and successfully stow some of
Bennu's ejecta for
return to Earth for a
detailed analysis.
This long return is scheduled to start in 2021 March with arrival back on
Earth in 2023
September.
If the return sample does successfully reach Earth, it
will be
scrutinized for
organic compounds
that might have seeded a
young Earth,
rare or unusual elements and minerals, and clues about the
early history of our
Solar System.
