2023-10-24 17:20:09
NASA/Erika Blumenfeld & Joseph Aebersold NASA doesn’t have the right screwdriver to open the box that contains the fragments of the asteroid Bennu
NASA/Erika Blumenfeld & Joseph Aebersold
NASA doesn’t have the right screwdriver to open the box that contains the fragments of the asteroid Bennu
SPACE – Imagine the frustration: a container of asteroid dust is in your hands, following a journey of 200 million kilometers in space, an incredible recovery maneuver to take on board the precious pieces of extraterrestrial rock, a return to Earth too perilous as the going but successful… And you lack the right screwdriver to open it. Here is what has just happened (slightly exaggerating) to the American Space Agency.
On October 20, NASA published on his blog an update of the operation to open the precious cargo of the Osiris-Rex probe. The machine, launched in 2016, collected pieces of the asteroid Bennu using a telescopic arm. On October 21, 2020, the probe touched the ground of the asteroid for almost 6 seconds, the time to tear off a few fragments. An extraordinary success.
Since its return to Earth at the end of September 2023, the probe has already surprised experts: even outside the container, a small dose of space dust was already visible. Recovered and put under the microscope, it has for the moment demonstrated what astronomers had calculated from Earth: Bennu is made partly of water and carbon, essential pieces to the puzzle of the creation of life here on earth.
Wrong tool in the glove box
But the piece de resistance remains to come. It is inside the container that the bulk of Osiris-Rex’s catch is found, the 250 grams still isolated from the world by a box. But this is where there is a slight hiccup. The box in question, called TAGSAM, is so well sealed, and the precautions to reopen it are so great, that it remains closed for the moment.
“After several attempts, the team discovered that two of the thirty-five screws used on the TAGSAM might not be removed with the tools in Osiris-Rex’s glove box.”, thus recognized NASA. But what is this “glove box” ? This is a larger container, filled with nitrogen, into which the stubborn box was transferred. A type of aquarium, completely airtight, which should prevent the fragments from being contaminated by the earth’s atmosphere when they are recovered.
NASA The famous airtight glove box.
NASA
The famous airtight glove box.
To summarize, NASA did not place in this “glove box” the adjustable wrench needed to settle the score of two recalcitrant screws… The kind of thing that gets annoying following such an ambitious space adventure! Fortunately, this setback does not dampen the good mood of the American space agency, which expects to quickly find the right tool, even if there is a certain impatience.
NASA explains that it still recovered part of it “by sliding a pair of pliers inside” from the already unsealed area of the lid, a bit like trying to extract the contents of a poorly ajar can with a teaspoon. It’s time for new, more efficient screwdrivers to arrive in the glove box.
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