Closing summary
It is slightly past 4pm in Utah, where the historic sample capsule from Nasa’s Osiris-Rex mission carrying samples from the asteroid Bennu landed earlier this morning. Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
The sample capsule arrived at the highly secured clean-room facility in Utah following its landing earlier this morning in the desert. This significant moment marks the successful delivery from the Utah desert into the clean room, and of course the 1.2bn-mile journey from the asteroid Bennu back to Earth.
Mission members also obtained samples from the surrounding area of the landing zone. Nasa TV showed scientists taking photos around the landing zone as well as measuring air and gas levels.
Sir Brian May, of Queen, has told Nasa TV he is “immensely proud” to be an Osiris-Rex mission team member. May was among those who helped to identify the location on Bennu where the samples would be collected.
Nasa administrator Bill Nelson hailed the Osiris-Rex mission’s success following its capsule’s landing in the Utah desert today. “This mission proves that Nassa does big things, things that have inspired us, things that unite us,” he said.
By studying the samples from Bennu, scientists can compare their results against the data they obtained from instruments on board the spacecraft. This “ground-truthing” means they can then calibrate the latter, allowing them to more accurately explore differences in composition across the surface of Bennu.
“What an incredible day this has been,” said Lori Glaze, director of Nasa’s planetary science division. “These types of samples, they are truly the gifts that keep on giving. They are a treasure and this mission Osiris-Rex is kicking off a decade of sample return,” she added.
“We’re going to start processing that sample we hope as early as Tuesday of next week,” said Osiris-Rex principal investigator Dante Lauretta. “We don’t want biological organisms interacting with this so we plan to exclude it from any contact with bacteria or anything else that might compromise our scientific investigation.”
“When they took the back shell off, it was extremely clean on the inside. It was remarkably similar to prior to launch,” said Nasa chief scientist Eileen Stansbery. “The spacecraft itself must have worked extraordinarily well.”
Scientists say that they expect to have a “pretty good idea of what the nature of the collection is” by 14 October. They added that one of the key scientific objectives for the sample analysis program is to characterize its thermal properties.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for following along.
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“What we’re really looking for is that hypothesis one … did we accurately characterize the mineralogy and chemistry of the surface of the asteroid?” said Lauretta.
“Did our remote sensing instruments work and did our data processing lead us to the right conclusions?” he continued.
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“One of the key scientific objectives for our sample analysis program is to characterize the thermal properties,” said Osiris-Rex principal investigator Dante Lauretta.
He added that the mission team is working alongside partners at the University of Arizona, as well as partners in Japan and Canada to “measure thermal conductivity, thermal skin depth and bulk density, and other key parameters that will feed into understanding the thermal inertia.”
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“The Utah Test and Training Range is an amazing place to land a sample,” said Mike Moreau, Osiris-Rex recovery lead at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
“It’s very flat, it’s free of hazards, and they have these amazing tracking resources here,” he added.
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“The reason why we should be investing our taxpayer dollars in these missions of exploration – of course, the science is fantastic, the engineering is beyond amazing – but the inspirational value is really where the long-term payoff comes from these,” said Lauretta.
“This is about the future generations,” the Osiris-Rex principal investigator continued.
“I teach undergraduate and graduate students, and so many of them said, ‘We are here because of Osiris-Rex, we came to Tucson because the Osiris-Rex mission was based here.’
“It was just an amazing example of what people can do when we put aside our differences and focus on a common goal. We can achieve great things – this country can achieve great things but we have to work together to make that happen,” he said.
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“Did we bring back what we thought or is it something completely different? Knowing Bennu, it might be a little both, so I can’t wait to see that,” said Lauretta.
He added that he expects to have a “pretty good idea of what the nature of the collection is” by 14 October.
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“It’s the end of a journey and the beginning of a new one because we’re going into the atomic realm,” added Lauretta.
“We’re going into the mineralogy, the chemistry, the organics and the history of the solar system, which is what I signed up for all those years ago,” he said.
“I’m getting really excited about getting into the lab and really digging into the samples and answering all the questions that have come up before we launch and especially from our encounter with asteroid Bennu … A lot of new science ideas came out of that,” he added.
Osiris-Rex principal investigator Dante Lauretta on sample capsule landing: 'I literally broke into tears'
“I literally broke into tears,” said Dante Lauretta, Osiris-Rex principal investigator, as he described the moment the main chute opened.
“I knew we made it home … It was overwhelming relief, gratitude … and really trying to convince myself that I wasn’t dreaming, that it was actually happening, that the chute was open, that the capsule was coming down and we got that science treasure in hand,” he added.
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Nasa chief scientist Eileen Stansbery on canister condition: 'It was extremely clean on the inside'
“The engineering team today is documenting the handling, ensuring that we understand the environment that the science canister is in and making way for the next generation of understanding a new world,” added Stansbery.
“When they took the back shell off, it was extremely clean on the inside. It was remarkably similar to prior to launch. It makes you wonder: did we actually open it up at some point? But I know we opened it,” she said.
“The spacecraft itself must have worked extraordinarily well, that all of the engineering that went in to ensure that the … canister was going to remain clean, did their job,” she added.
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“These samples are an amazing treasure trove for generations,” said Eileen Stansbery, chief scientist at Nasa’s Johnson Space Center.
“The entry into the clean room has gone extremely well. They’re processing the capsule, removing portions of the canister so that they can get a continuous flow of nitrogen into the sample canister to ensure that there is no contamination from the Earth’s atmosphere into that canister and maintain the pristine entity of the samples.”
She added that once the sample capsule is processed through the clean room, 200-plus people all over world can start studying the samples.
“The curatorial team at the Johnson Space Center is working hand in glove with the spacecraft engineering team and the science team to ensure that we are processing and handling this sample return capsule in a measured, methodical, well-choreographed sequence,” she said.
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“This capsule literally has a personality and it understood the assignment,” said Tim Priser, chief engineer for deep space exploration at Lockheed Martin.
“It’s the best job an engineer could ever have, to help a scientist go gather this knowledge. It just is so thrilling and rewarding,” he said.
“Today, Osiris-Rex, not only four hours before entry, did she understand the assignment and put this sample return capsule on a path to hit an entry interface that needed to be so precise that you didn’t skip out of the atmosphere, or you hit it too deep and you burned up before you had a chance to get to the ground. So she did that flawlessly,” he added.
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“We don’t want biological organisms interacting with this so we plan to exclude it from any contact with bacteria or anything else that might compromise our scientific investigation,” said Osiris-Rex principal investigator Dante Lauretta.
“We’re going to start processing that sample we hope as early as Tuesday of next week,” he said.
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“It was pulse pounding, I’m sure for you watching it, even more for those of us in the helicopters, waiting for that main shoot to come out,” said Dante Lauretta, the Osiris-Rex principal investigator who was part of the recovery team.
“We were with bated breath, making sure that we came down for a nice soft landing in the Utah desert, and it worked spectacularly well … It didn’t roll, didn’t bounce. It just made a tiny little divot in the Utah soil. So for the environmental sampling team, that was great,” he said.
“I couldn’t be more proud. And just to remind you, not only did we bring this mission in on schedule, under budget and delivered more science than we had ever thought was possible with the encounter with Bennu, but we think we’ve got a lot of sample in that canister,” he continued.
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“What an incredible day this has been,” said Lori Glaze, director of Nasa’s planetary science division.
“These types of samples, they are truly the gifts that keep on giving. They are a treasure and this mission Osiris-Rex is kicking off a decade of sample return,” she added.
“Those [samples] are going to be a treasure for scientific analysis for years and years to come to our kids and our grandkids and people who haven’t even been born yet,” she continued.
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Nasa to hold press conference shortly on historic sample capsule landing
Hello blog readers,
Welcome back! Nasa is set to hold a press conference at around 5pm ET on the historic sample capsule landing from Nasa’s Osiris-Rex mission earlier today.
Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates from the press conference.
Interim Summary
Here is a look at where things currently stand:
The sample capsule has arrived at the highly-secured clean room facility in Utah following its landing earlier this morning in the desert. This significant moment marks the successful delivery from the Utah desert into the clean room, and of course the 1.2 billion-mile journey from the asteroid Bennu back to Earth.
Mission members also obtained samples from the surrounding area of the landing zone. Nasa TV showed scientists taking photos around the landing zone as well as measuring air and gas levels.
Sir Brian May, of Queen, has told Nasa TV he is “immensely proud” to be a team member of Osiris-Rex. May was among those who helped to identify the location on Bennu where the samples would be collected.
Nasa administrator Bill Nelson hailed the Osiris-Rex mission’s success following its capsule’s landing in the Utah desert today. “This mission proves that NASA does big things, things that have inspired us, things that unite us,” he said.
By studying the samples from Bennu, scientists can compare their results against the data they obtained from instruments on board the spacecraft. This ‘ground-truthing’ means they can then calibrate the latter, allowing them to more accurately explore differences in composition across the surface of Bennu.
We will be back at 5pm ET for Nasa’s press conference on this historic landing and will deliver the latest updates.
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Here is video of the moment the sample capsule got rolled into the temporary clean room facility in Utah:
Your package has been delivered.
— NASA (@NASA) September 24, 2023
The #OSIRISREx sample return capsule containing rock and dust collected in space from asteroid Bennu has arrived at temporary clean room in Utah. The 4.5-billion-year-old sample will soon head to @NASA_Johnson for curation and analysis. pic.twitter.com/Ke0PcDAKt0
Crew members have rolled the sample capsule into the highly-secured clean room and are set to extract the sample canister from the capsule.
This significant moment marks the successful delivery from the Utah desert into the Utah test and training range clean room, and of course the 1.2 billion mile journey from the asteroid Bennu back to Earth.
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Team members carried the sample capsule onto a cart and have rolled the capsule into the portable clean room facility.
Tomorrow morning, a C17 cargo plane is set to transport the sample to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The sample capsule has arrived at the clean room facility
The sample capsule has arrived at the clean room facility following an approximately 20-minute helicopter ride.
Team members donning gas masks are approaching the capsule as they prepare to remove it from its cargo netting and make sure there is no potential outgassing from the capsule’s battery.
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Here is video of the moment scientists bagged the sample capsule following its historic landing in the Utah desert:
The #OSIRISREx sample return capsule has been bagged to protect what scientists hope will be a treasure trove of pristine samples from asteroid Bennu: https://t.co/G7LRcaO9Ne pic.twitter.com/UPhug705Aj
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) September 24, 2023
The helicopter transferring the sample capsule to the clean room has taken off
The sample capsule is now airborne as it dangles below the helicopter transporting it to the clean room, officially departing the landing zone.
Nasa TV shows recovery mission members on the ground waving goodbye as the capsule gets transported away in its 20-minute trip.
Precious cargo 🚁
— NASA (@NASA) September 24, 2023
The #OSIRISREx asteroid sample hitches a ride on a helicopter. The next stop is a clean room here in Utah. It will eventually make its way to @NASA_Johnson for scientific analysis. pic.twitter.com/pP6ZHVtTXg
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The helicopter pilot set to transport the sample capsule has removed one of the doors on the helicopter so he could look out and ensure the sample capsule in its cargo netting is being safely transported, said Nasa TV.
In just a few moments, the sample capsule will be set for lift off. Nasa TV explains that the helicopter transportation process has been carefully rehearsed multiple times.
Mission members are also obtaining samples from the surrounding area of the landing zone where the sample capsule landed earlier this morning in the Utah desert.
Meanwhile, the sample capsule itself is being prepared to be attached to the long-line for helicopter operations – its final journey before it is opened up at the clean room and shipped to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The sample capsule has been bagged by recovery mission members.
It is set to be transported to the clean operation room next.
Queen member and astrophysicist Brian May 'immensely proud' to be part of Osiris-Rex
Sir Brian May, of Queen, has told Nasa TV he is “immensely proud” to be a team member of Osiris-Rex.
May was among those who helped to identify the location on Bennu where the samples would be collected.
Together with others working on the mission, May – who has a PhD in astrophysics – has co-authored book about asteroid Bennu, including stereoscopic (3-D) images.
“I can’t be with you today, I wish I could, I’m rehearsing for a Queen tour, but my heart is there with you as this precious sample is recovered,” he said. “Happy sample return day.”
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Nasa administrator Bill Nelson on sample landing: 'The impossible became possible'
Nasa administrator Bill Nelson hailed the Osiris-Rex mission’s success following its capsule’s landing in the Utah desert today.
“It brought something extraordinary – the largest asteroid sample ever received on Earth. It’s going to help scientists investigate planet formation, it’s going to improve our understanding of the asteroids that could possibly impact the earth and it will deepen our understanding of the origin of our solar system and its formation.
This mission proves that NASA does big things, things that have inspired us, things that unite us…
The mission continues with incredible science and analysis to come. But I want to thank you all, for everybody that made this Osiris-Rex mission possible…
The impossible became possible,” said Nelson.
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Proffesor Neil Bowles of the University of Oxford, who is among the scientists who will be studying the samples, said he was relieved to see the sample return capsule on the ground.
“Really excited for the next steps, getting the sample capsule safe in the clean room at Johnson Space Center and then seeing what is in side. So much new science to come!,” he told the Guardian.
A confirmation of no hazardous gases of the capsule has been issued.
Nasa TV shows mission members overjoyed in the control room as they watch their fellow team members evaluate the environmental safety of the capsule.
The recovery mission team is beginning to approach the capsule for the initial environmental safety sweep.
They will check for any unexploded ordinances and potential outgassing.
Here is a graphic on how samples were connected form the Bennu asteroid:
The first helicopter in the recovery mission has landed around 100-200 feet away from the capsule.
The team will first check the area for unexploded devices on the Utah test and training range where it landed.
Next up is the process of recovery operations to get the capsule out of the desert and into the clean operation room.
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There it is! A view from the Nasa helicopter shows the capsule on the ground.
That will be a big relief to all.
While the parachute is clearly visible on screen, the capsule itself is not.
But there are smiles in the Nasa control room... have they spotted it?
The recovery process is now underway.
Nasa TV is showing a high-altitude view of the Utah desert, the parachute visible on the ground.
The location has been determined, and will be relayed to the team on board helicopters so they can quickly recover the capsule.
Nasa TV is now showing the tensely silent control room, where team members are sat around a table.
An announcement has been made that the helicopters have now been sent out to recover the capsule.
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Sample capsule lands in Utah desert
The sample return capsule containing samples from asteroid Bennu has touched down in the Utah desert at 10:52am ET.
The recovery mission is set to commence in the next few minutes as mission team members prepare to do an environmental safety sweep.
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The parachute for the sample return capsule has been deployed as it prepares to land in the Utah desert.
The sample is expected to land on earth in the next five minutes.
Another hope is that by studying the samples from Bennu, scientists can compare their results against the data they obtained from instruments on board the spacecraft.
This ‘ground-truthing’ means they can then calibrate the latter, allowing them to more accurately explore differences in composition across the surface of Bennu. Remember - the samples that are heading from Earth only came from one small crater on the asteroid.
This ground-truthing will also be valuable for future missions, helping scientists to interpret observations of other asteroids and other bodies in the solar system that can only be studied by space telescopes.
While the samples from the Osiris Rex capsule will allow scientists to probe the makeup of asteroid Bennu, they will also be valuable for other reasons.
Among them, scientists hope to be able to compare their analyses of the Bennu samples with much smaller samples previously collected from the asteroids Itokawa and Ryugu in the Hayabusa missions by Japan.
While Itokawa is an “S-type” asteroid, meaning it is mainly composed of stony and metal type materials like nickel-iron, Ryugu is – like Bennu – rich in carbon-based substances.
Dr Ashley King of London’s Natural History Museum – who will be among the first scientists to work on the Bennu samples – told the Guardian that among the questions that researchers hope to probe is whether different carbon-rich asteroids like Bennu and Ryugu have a similar makeup, or whether they are very different, meaning there are many potential different sources for delivery of organic materials and water to the Earth.
In October 2020, the spacecraft got up close to the asteroid, reached out its sampling arm and scooped up a pile of dust and dirt.
But the carefully choreographed process was not without the odd hitch: the spacecraft grabbed so much material that the space rocks initially wedged open the lid of the sample container, resulting in a cloud of particles drifting into space.
Nonetheless, the team expect to have retrieved around 250g of rubble, the largest sample ever to be collected from an asteroid.
Following its successful smash and grab, the spacecraft carried out further studies on the asteroid from orbit, before beginning its 1.2-billion-mile journey home in May 2021.
Now, more than two years later, the world watches as the capsule with it precious cargo makes its descent to Earth.
Bennu sample contamination prevention explained
What scientists are worried about is the Earth’s environment contaminating the samples from Bennu.
That’s because a key point of the mission is to have pristine samples, allowing researchers to probe the make up of the asteroid and its physical properties - they do not want terrestrial material muddying the waters, as is the case with meteorites that have landed on Earth.
To guard against this, vents in the Osiris-Rex capsule will open as its travels through the Earth’s atmosphere, allowing in air that has been filtered for water, dust and other material.
This will help to equalised the pressure and prevent unfiltered air from leaking into the capsule and causing contamination.
The capsule will be rapidly located and retrieved – again reducing the risk of contamination – and once transported to the temporary clean room facility the capsule will be hooked up to a flow of nitrogen, preventing the samples from coming into contact with terrestrial atmosphere or microbes.
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With the material on board the Nasa capsule having been scooped up from an asteroid, an obvious concern is contamination.
But scientists are not worried that the space rocks will be harmful to life on Earth. For one thing, Bennu has been exposed to harsh radiation in space, ruling out the possibility that it is home to anything living.
Experts are also sanguine about other potential risks, noting that small samples previously collected from other bodies in space indicate that the rubble from Bennu is very unlikely to contain any dangerous chemicals or harmful levels radiation.
The sample capsule's expected retrieval process explained
With Nasa having confirmed that the Osiris-Rex spacecraft released its rubble-containing capsule on time this morning, the samples are currently hurtling towards Earth. Now a sequence of events worthy of Hollywood action film is about to begin.
As the capsule enters our atmosphere, it will be travelling around 27,650 miles per hour. As a result, the capsule will become very, very hot, meaning – as Nasa puts it – it will be enveloped in “a superheated ball of fire”.
To prevent the samples from becoming toast in temperatures exceeding 5000 F (2760 C), the capsule has a heat shield to keep the space rocks at a temperature similar to that which they experienced on Bennu.
About two minutes after entry, when the capsule is at 102,300 ft above the Earth’s surface, the first parachute will be deployed, helping to slow it down to subsonic speeds. Six minutes later, when the capsule is just a mile above the Earth’s surface, further parachutes will open, allowing the capsule to touchdown on Earth at a gentle 11 miles per hour.
But as the capsule slows, a team of scientists, engineers and military personnel will begin a race against time.
Carried by four helicopters, they will dash across the Utah desert in a bid to recover the capsule as quickly as possible to reduce the risk of it becoming contaminated by terrestrial substances. Having tracked the capsule’s descent, using thermal and optical instruments, the team will locate the capsule and then load it into a metal crate, wrap it in plastic and a tarpaulin, and then whisk it off, again by helicopter, to a temporary facility.
Whether the mission impossible theme tune will be playing is anyone’s guess...
The significance of Bennu explained
Discovered in 1999, it is a ‘rubble-pile asteroid’ which means it is a large jumble of space rocks compressed together by gravity. These rocks are thought to have broken off from a larger body, and are about 4.6 bn years old – meaning that they formed around the same time as the solar system.
Crucially, the asteroid is known to be rich in carbon-based substances and water-containing clay minerals – suggesting that liquid water was once present on the larger body from which Bennu formed.
That, researchers say, means the samples that are currently hurtling towards Earth could help scientists to understand the ingredients that went into making planets including our own, and how those materials came together to create environments suitable for life.
But there are other reasons for studying Bennu. Among them, researchers want to better understand how to predict and defend Earth against potential asteroid strikes – and Bennu is poses a risk for a future hit.
Classed as “potentially hazardous” Bennu orbits our sun every 1.2 years, coming close to Earth every six years. But while Nasa has said there is no chance of it hitting Earth through the mid 2100s, after that point – and until at least 2300 – it has a one in 1,750 chance of crashing into our planet.
As we await the arrival of the capsule containing chunks of space rock from asteroid Bennu, it is worth looking back at how we got to this point and the incredible achievement of the scientists involved.
The name of the mission in full is quite a mouthful: origins, spectral interpretation, resource identification, security-regolith explorer. But in brief, it might be better described as a space-based smash and grab.
The target, Bennu, is essential a pile of rubble that is loosely held together by gravity. It is about as wide as the Empire State Building is tall and is on an orbit around the Earth, passing close to our planet every six years or so.
The Osiris-Rex spacecraft, which is about the size of a transit van, blasted off towards Bennu in September 2016, reaching the asteroid two year later, in December of 2018. Once in orbit – flying just a mile above the asteroid, scooping the record for the closest orbit of a planetary body by a spacecraft – it began mapping Bennu, allowing scientists to select the best site for recovery of the samples.The destination, it was decided, would be the asteroid’s Nightingale Crater.
Sample capsule expected to land at 10:55am ET near Salt Lake City
The sample capsule carrying rocks and dust from Bennu is expected to land near Salt Lake City at 10:55am ET today.
The Osiris-Rex spacecraft reached within 63,000 miles of Earth’s surface on Sunday, or about one-third the distance from Earth to the moon, and released the sample capsule at around 6:42am ET.
The capsule, traveling at 27,650 miles per hour, is expected to enter Earth’s atmosphere at around 10:42am ET off the northern California coast at an altitude of about 83 miles above the surface.
The capsule is then set to land 13 minutes later at 10:55am ET in an area on the defense department’s Utah Test and Training Range near Salt Lake City.
Mission team members are set to retrieve the sample as soon as it lands “to ensure the sample is not contaminated by exposure to Earth’s environment,” said Nasa.
They will then fly it via helicopter to a temporary clean room to prepare it to be transported to Nasa’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Monday.
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Good morning US readers and good afternoon UK readers,
A highly-anticipated asteroid sample from Nasa’s seven-year Osiris-Rex mission is set to enter Earth’s atmosphere today.
Earlier this morning, at 6.42am ET/11.42am BST, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft released a capsule containing samples of rubble and dust it collected from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu.
That capsule is now hurtling towards Earth at around 27,650 miles per hour.
About 20 minutes after releasing the capsule, the spacecraft itself turned tail and has blasted away from Earth to begin a new mission to explore another asteroid, known as Apophis, which it will take around six years to reach.
For now, we wait with bated breath for the Bennu samples to reach Earth, with touchdown expected around 10.55am ET/15.55am BST.
The sample from Bennu “acts as a time capsule from the earliest days of our solar system and will help us answer big questions about the origins of life and the nature of asteroids,” said Nasa.
Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates on this historic return.
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