NASA's final tally shows spacecraft returned double the amount of asteroid rubble
Time:2024-05-01 05:55:11 Source:politicsViews(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:New Jersey and union ask judge to dismiss anti
Next:Portuguese
You may also like
- Workers' paychecks grew faster in the first quarter, a possible concern for the Fed
- Geena Davis, 68, wows in a figure
- Lucy Hale reveals what her current equation is with her Pretty Little Lies co
- Lucy Hale reveals what her current equation is with her Pretty Little Lies co
- Bizarre moment yacht gets wedged underneath railway arches while being carried on a low
- Week in Politics: Tax cuts and a spoonful of sugar
- Engineering student, 21, falls to his death from 120 foot waterfall while hiking through Big Sur
- Shocking moment Oakland jewelry shop owner cowers in terror as gang of hammer
- CRAIG BROWN: The killer who wants to be Donald Trump's running mate