By- Srishti Verma
The largest asteroid samples ever gathered were brought back to Earth in a NASA capsule that touched down in the Utah desert.
NASA provided the public with the first glimpse of the asteroid Bennu sample, which researchers hope could provide information about the early history of our solar system and potentially even the beginnings of life.
2.48 ounces (70.3 grams) of rocks and dust have been extracted from the sampler gear by the team thus far.
The samples, according to NASA, are more than the mission's target of gathering 60 grams of asteroid rubble
More samples need to be collected, however the Johnson Space Center (JSC) researchers are currently having trouble opening the canister.
The TAGSAM head, which held the majority of the pebbles and dust that the spacecraft had collected in 2020, has proven to be difficult for the OSIRIS-REx mission team to open.
In the coming weeks, the team will work on creating and refining a novel method to extract the last remaining asteroid sample from the TAGSAM sampler head while also processing the material that was gathered this week.
Notably, NASA chose to sample Bennu because it is believed to be rich in organic compounds.