NASA’s asteroid probe grabbed so much material it was ‘overflowing’

• NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is going even better than scientists thought, and the asteroid probe collected so much material that its handlers sped up the timeline to ensure they bring as much back to Earth as possible.
• The sampling arm was literally "overflowing" with material from the asteroid, NASA says.
• Eventually, the spacecraft will head back to Earth where it will drop off the sample so that scientists can study it first-hand.

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It's been a very big month for NASA's asteroid-hunting ambitions. The space agency's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully performed its delicate "Touch and Go" or TAG maneuver by touching down on the space rock known as Bennu for a few seconds before returning to a safe orbit. During those brief moments, the spacecraft kicked up a bunch of asteroid surface material and attempted to capture it.

Days later, it finally became clear that the capture arm did indeed grab enough material for it to be saved for the journey home. However, saving the material isn't just a matter of stuffing it in the spacecraft's pocket. The stowing process takes time, but the good news is that the stowing procedure was indeed completed successfully.

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NASA’s asteroid probe grabbed so much material it was ‘overflowing’ originally appeared on BGR.com on Fri, 30 Oct 2020 at 19:10:31 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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