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At last! NASA finally frees lid of asteroid Bennu sample capsule after battling stuck fasteners
For months, bits of an asteroid collected by a U.S. probe during a billion-mile trek were out of reach to scientists, locked inside a return capsule in a NASA facility with two stuck fasteners preventing access to the rocky space treasure. This week, NASA won its battle against those fasteners.
On Wednesday (Jan. 10), NASA technicians finally removed the stuck fasteners from the sample return capsule of its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft — which completed the first asteroid sample return mission in U.S. history when it landed in Utah in September 2023. Tucked in its capsule were rocks and dust collected from the asteroid Bennu. Initially, the team at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas was able to access 70.3 grams (2.48 ounces) of material — 10 grams more than the mission’s goal — from the outside of the sampler head, called the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM).
However, the bulk of the asteroid sample material remained trapped inside the capsule when two of the 35 fasteners on TAGSAM could not be removed with existing tools approved for use inside the OSIRIS-REx glovebox, which ensures the asteroid samples are not contaminated during processing. Thankfully, researchers were able to develop new tools that could tackle the stubborn fasteners, according to a statement from NASA.
"Our engineers and scientists have worked tirelessly behind the scenes for months to not only process the more than 70 grams of material we were able to access previously, but also design, develop, and test new tools that allowed us to move past this hurdle," Eileen Stansbery, division chief for ARES (Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science) at NASA, said in the statement. "The innovation and dedication of this team has been remarkable. We are all excited to see the remaining treasure OSIRIS-REx holds."
The team created two new multi-part tools, including custom-fabricated bits made from a specific grade of surgical, non-magnetic stainless steel, which is the hardest metal approved for use in the curation gloveboxes. The tools were tested during removal procedures in a rehearsal lab to ensure they would be able to achieve the torque needed without damaging the TAGSAM head or contaminating the samples, according to the statement.
"In addition to the design challenge of being limited to curation-approved materials to protect the scientific value of the asteroid sample, these new tools also needed to function within the tightly-confined space of the glovebox, limiting their height, weight and potential arc movement," Nicole Lunning, OSIRIS-REx curator at NASA, said in the statement. "The curation team showed impressive resilience and did incredible work to get these stubborn fasteners off the TAGSAM head so we can continue disassembly. We are overjoyed with the success."
Once the team completes the disassembly, they'll be able to weigh the full sample to determine the total mass collected from Bennu. Image specialists will also take ultra-high-resolution pictures of the samples before removing them. NASA plans to distribute a portion of the asteroid samples to the scientific community for further research later this spring.
Asteroid Bennu is believed to be a primitive space rock that has been roaming space since the early days of our solar system. Therefore, studying samples collected from the surface of the asteroid could reveal new clues about our cosmic neighborhood.
注释：
hurdle: n
表示"障碍"，means " a difficulty which is to be conquered"，如：Software may turn out to be a bigger hurdle. 软件可能成为更大的障碍。
中文简要说明：
去年9月，美国航天总署的探测船欧塞瑞斯号（Osiris-Rex），向地球投放了一具密封舱，里头装满小行星砂石样品。但是尴尬的一幕来了，2个小碎石卡住了密封舱盖，怎么做都打不开。费时3个月，科学家终于突破了这个麻烦，可以开始研究里头的无价之宝，也就是来自贝努小行星(Bennu)的石砾与砂土。
太空网(Space.com)报导，密封舱是在去年9月降落在美国犹太州，完成了美国历史上，首次的小行星样本返回任务。原本预计装上60公克就已经很不错了，结果探测器超额完成任务，取到了70.3公克的砂石样本，比目标多 10公克。
然而，科学家把密封舱放入手套箱内，准备徒手打开舱盖时，却发现2个小碎石(同样来自贝努小行星)卡在舱口，而且手套箱内没有合适的工具无法除去。这时科学家遇到2个难题，要是不顾后果的贸然撬开，可能会把地球物质污染这些珍贵的样本，所以过去3个月内，科学家一直想办法，找合适的工具，来打开这个「宝盒」。
美国太空总署在近日发表声明：「我们的工程师和科学家们，不知疲倦地工作了几个月，设计、开发和测试新的工具，终于克服这一障碍。」
团队设计一种非磁性的不锈钢制钻头，这是手套箱内可使用的最坚硬的金属。声明称，这些工具在排练室里中进行了测试，以确保它们能够达到所需的扭矩，而不会损坏钻头，或污染样品。
一旦团队完成拆卸，科学家就能够对整个样本进行称重，以确定从贝努收集到的砂土总质量。影像专家还将在取走样本之前。拍摄超高分辨率的照片，作为「开盒」的档案照。美国太空总署计划在今年春天晚些时候，将部分小行星样本分发给各国的科学界，共同进行研究。
贝努是一个典型的火星与木星之间的小行星，认为是太阳系形成之际，固体行星聚合后的剩余材料，因此它可能是我们太阳系里最古老的物质。因此，它可能就身负了固体行星(包括我们地球)的演化过程，对于小行星的资源调查，也有重要的线索。一些人认为，在太空时代来临后，说不定可以到小行星上采取贵重稀缺的资源。
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