NASA's final tally shows spacecraft returned double the amount of asteroid rubble
Time:2024-05-21 07:34:32 Source:travelViews(143)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA finally has counted up all the asteroid samples returned by a spacecraft last fall — and it’s double the rubble return goal.
Officials reported Thursday that the Osiris-Rex spacecraft collected 121.6 grams (4.29 ounces) of dust and pebbles from asteroid Bennu. That’s just over half a cup and the biggest cosmic haul ever from beyond the moon.
It took NASA longer than expected to pry open the sample container because of stuck fasteners.
The black, carbon-rich samples — the first ever collected from an asteroid by NASA — are stored at a special curation lab at Houston’s Johnson Space Center.
Osiris-Rex returned the samples last September, three years after gathering them from the asteroid. The haul for the $1 billion mission would have been greater, but rocks jammed the lid of the container following the grab and some samples floated away.
Previous:Iran helicopter crash that killed President Raisi could reverberate across the Middle East
Next:OpenAI pauses ChatGPT voice after Scarlett Johansson comparisons
You may also like
- Candice Swanepoel stuns in a form
- Photographer at Prince Andrew's car
- I got married at the top of a 2,600
- Ant and Dec discuss their emotional farewell to Saturday Night Takeaway after 22 years
- Ricky Stenhouse punching Kyle Busch could lead to suspension
- US targets Russia with hundreds of sanctions over Ukraine war, Navalny death
- Return to sender! Bizarre items that arrived in the post and left people terrified
- Food writer baffles This Morning viewers with tips for cheap lunches
- Revealed: Brit tourist, 19, subjected to sex attack in Majorca 'was gang