(music throughout) Like boot prints on the Moon,
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft left its mark on asteroid Bennu.
Now, new images — taken during the spacecraft's
final fly-over on April 7, 2021 — reveal the aftermath of the historic feat.
The spacecraft flew within 3.7 km of the asteroid —
the closest it has been since the Touch-and-Go, or TAG, sample collection event on October 20, 2020.
During TAG, the spacecraft's sampling head sunk 48.8 centimeters
into the asteroid's surface and simultaneously fired a pressurized charge of nitrogen gas,
churning up surface material and driving it into the collection chamber.
Four of the spacecraft's back-away thrusters launched rocks and dust
during the maneuver as OSIRIS-REx pushed back off into space.
Multiple sub-meter boulders were mobilized by the thrusters into a campfire,
ring-like shape – similar to rings of boulders seen around small craters pocking the surface.
The spacecraft will remain in Bennu's vicinity until departure on May 10,
when the mission will begin its two-year return cruise back to Earth.
Ultimately, it will deliver the collected sample to the
Utah Test and Training Range on September 24, 2023.