OSIRIS-REx TAGs Bennu in NASA First

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft touches the surface of Bennu, in NASA's first sample return mission.

OSIRIS-REx TAGs Bennu in a mission to collect material from the surface of an asteroid.

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft touched down on an area the size of a parking lot on the asteroid Bennu. Image credit: NASA/GFSC/CI/Unv. of Arizona

By James Maynard

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft touched the surface of the asteroid Bennu on October 20, gathering a sample of an asteroid for a journey to Earth. During this touch-and-go (TAG) maneuver, the vehicle collected a small amount of material from the surface of Bennu, before moving away from the rocky body.

Completing this maneuver on Tuesday, October 20, OSIRIS-REx became the first NASA spacecraft to collect a sample from the surface of an asteroid.

“At 1:50 p.m. EDT, OSIRIS-REx fired its thrusters to nudge itself out of orbit around Bennu. It extended the shoulder, then elbow, then wrist of its 11-foot (3.35-meter) sampling arm, known as the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), and transited across Bennu while descending about a half-mile (805 meters) toward the surface,” NASA reports.

Read more: https://thecosmiccompanion.net/osiris-rex-tags-bennu-in-nasa-first

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