                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2023 September 21

                                Tagging Bennu
       Image Credit: OSIRIS-REx, University of Arizona, NASA, Goddard
                       Scientific Visualization Studio

   Explanation: The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft's arm reached out and touched
   asteroid 101955 Bennu on October 20, 2020, after a careful approach to
   the small, near-Earth asteroid's boulder-strewn surface. Dubbed a
   Touch-And-Go (TAG) sampling event, the 30 centimeter wide sampling head
   (TAGSAM) appears to crush some of the rocks in this close-up recorded
   by the spacecraft's SamCam. The image was snapped just after surface
   contact some 321 million kilometers from planet Earth. One second
   later, the spacecraft fired nitrogen gas from a bottle intended to blow
   a substantial amount of Bennu's regolith into the sampling head,
   collecting the loose surface material. And now, nearly three years
   later, on Sunday, September 24, that sample of asteroid Bennu is
   scheduled to arrive on planet Earth. The sample return capsule will be
   dropped off by the OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft as it makes a close flyby of
   Earth. Twenty minutes after the drop-off, the spacecraft will fire its
   thrusters to divert past Earth and continue on to orbit near-Earth
   asteroid 99942 Apophis.

                Tomorrow's picture: reflections of the cosmos
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

