Asteroid samples from Osiris-Rex cannot be analysed

NASA cannot evaluate samples from asteroid Bennu because the lid of the sample container is stuck. But the material already analyzed also poses puzzles.

More than two months ago, NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft, which was launched in September 2016, touched down on Earth again. She had samples from the asteroid Bennu in her luggage. NASA employees have already been able to remove and examine the first 70 grams of rocks and dust from the probe’s container.

In order for us to perform further analyses, the remaining rocks must also be removed from the container. Problem: Two of the 35 housing screws are stuck.

This was reported by the scientific journal Nature. Researchers at the Lyndon Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas (USA), took the first samples using tweezers. NASA is now developing special screwdrivers to solve the mystery surrounding the remaining samples.

A special challenge: The forceps must be designed in such a way that they do not contaminate the material — estimated at 30 to 70 grams — in the container.

“We don’t know what’s in this material,” says Dante Lauretta, a scientist at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He leads the science and analytical team for the OSIRIS-REx mission.

But the samples already analyzed seem to pose many questions for researchers. For example, the material was found to contain magnesium, sodium and phosphate, a combination that has never actually been seen in meteorites. “It’s a mystery right now,” Loretta said.

Organic compounds, such as carbon and hydrogen compounds, have also been found to contain a large amount of ring-shaped molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Such materials have been found in meteorites on Earth in the past, and may have played a role in the emergence of life on our planet.