Welcome to the
50th episode
of NASA's Science Live.
We are so thankful
you could join us
for the special milestone
and take part
in another opportunity
for you to interact
with NASA experts
and have your
questions answered
in real time.
I'm your host, Megan Cruz.
And today
I am so excited
to chat with you
about Sunday's historic events.
NASA's Osiris-rex
the first US mission
to deliver a pristine sample
from an asteroid to Earth.
Now, if you have questions
throughout today's show,
you can send them in
using the hashtag.
Ask NASA on social media
or you can drop them
into the comment box
wherever you're watching.
Joining me
now are two experts
to discuss this
incredible mission
and explain what's next
for the asteroid sample.
We have Dr. Dante Lauretta.
He is Osiris-rex
principal investigator
from the University of Arizona.
And then we also have Dr.
Scott Sandford
Science lead
for the Osiris-rex
Sample return
capsule from NASA Ames.
Thank you both for being here.
Thank you.
All right.
So on Sunday,
let's recap for everyone.
On Sunday at 10:52 a.m.
Eastern Time,
the Osiris-rex capsule
you see right there
landed in the Utah desert
carrying a sample of Bennu,
a carbon
rich near-Earth asteroid.
I was watching this
live broadcast from home.
It was so exciting to see
that capsule streak
across the sky.
Then the main parachute opens,
bringing it down for that soft
landing again
that you see right there.
Some of the launch,
some of the team
observing the capsule.
Soon after it came down, down.
And Scott,
I know both of
you were there for the landing.
Describe
how you must have felt
to be on the ground
for that historic moment.
I know it must have
been really emotional.
Yeah.
Thanks, Megan.
It was
the culmination of a 20 year
journey for me personally
and for this team.
And emotions were riding high.
You know, as we say,
the spacecraft's
not just fueled with hydrazine.
Our emotions are carrying it
through space
to that journey, to bennu
and back to the earth.
You know,
it was full of heart
pounding moments.
But when we heard that
that main shoot had deployed
and the capsule was coming down
for that gentle landing,
I literally broke into tears.
I was sitting right
next to Scott and Helicopter
four on our way out,
and I just couldn't hold back.
It was just all of the stress
and all of the tension
just flew out of my body
and I was filled with pride
and relief,
quite honestly, that we had
made it down to the
surface of the earth.
Yes, Scott, The other
thing is that
it's going to take me
a little while
to unpack it all.
And the problem is
we keep doing things
so I can't catch up.
But
certainly there was
a sense of relief.
You know, I let Dante
do the tears for me,
but I had some
of the same sentiments also.
First thing the SA seen it
sort of filled with odd.
I just think about
all the places it's been
and the things it did.
It's just amazing and,
and just anticipation too,
because once
the capsule came down,
we had bennu the day before.
We didn't have bennu.
So now there's a
whole bunch of things
we can do that
we couldn't have done before.
And so it's
just really exciting.
And speaking of exciting,
since then, Lockheed Martin,
who built
the sample return capsule
as well as the spacecraft,
has opened that capsule
and we're getting
a first look inside there.
It is a picture
taken just hours ago.
Dante, walk us through
what we're looking at
right now.
Yeah,
this is the scientific
treasure box.
So what you see is
the science canister
has been opened up.
It's kind of like a clamshell,
so the lid is behind us.
The white area in
the middle is the filter.
I think Scott will
tell us more about that
because that's part
of his science investigation.
It's on an avionics deck
or that aluminum plate
and that air filter
looking device
right there in the center.
That's the touch and go
sample acquisition mechanism
or as we call it, the TAGSAM.
That's the device
that touched
the surface in venue
and where we believe inside
there is our
scientific treasure.
So we're this is
our first glimpse
of what we might have.
There's good indication
that we might have sample.
You can see some black dust
on the duck on the deck there.
We've got our work
to do to figure out
really what's going on
with all of that material.
I can hear the
excitement in your voice.
And I know you were excited
because we have video of you
inside the room
when they opened up
the canister there.
Can we pull up
some of that video
to take a look at it as well?
Walk us
through more of the process
and see if you can, again,
what we're looking at
and just to explain
how complicated this all is.
Yeah.
So what you saw from
the landing was the capsule
which had a heat shield
and a back shell.
And then this was inside.
It's kind of like
one of those nested dolls.
So you had the heat shield,
and then you've got
the science canister,
and they're pulling the lid off
right now
and then sitting inside
a capturing
is that tagsam device.
And it's kind of clicked in
like a key
into a boot, into a ski.
And of course,
I'm thrilled here
because this is the moment
we've been dreaming of, right?
We can see
the thing that touched Bennu
is now in our laboratories
and of course we can't
wait to get inside.
We still got a
lot of work to do.
We still got to get inside
that tagsam
That's
where the real treasure is.
But we know how to do that
and the team is ready
and raring to go.
And for those who don't know
the person cheering
and that bunny said,
That was Don Day.
You explained to me
what was happening there.
You said that you were texting.
You're the picture
that you took
of the opening
of the of the canister
to the rest of the team, right?
Yeah.
On the other side
of that window
that I'm looking to
is an observation room
and my mission sample scientist
Herald Connally,
my mission implementation
system engineer
Anthony Pollitt,
members of the curation team
like Francis
McCubbin, the lead Astro
Materials curator
there they are observing us
as we're operating
in the clean room.
And I'm taking those pictures
and then
they airdropping
them over to them
so they can get them out
to the team
to start to a process, analyze
and think about
what's going to happen next.
We have a big
important decision ahead of us
because we do get to sample
some of that dust
very quickly,
probably tomorrow morning,
and that'll go to
the science labs here
at Johnson Space Center
for what we call our Quick
Look analysis.
It's a basic assessment.
First of all,
is that actually part of bennu
or is it
something else,
some other dust?
Probably Bennu.
But of course, as scientists,
we've got to confirm,
we've got to get
the measurements.
We got to verify that
that's indeed
what we're looking at.
So the team is going through
those images that I took
and making some
really important decisions
this afternoon.
Mm hmm. Yeah.
So still quite a process.
And we'll go into a little bit
of that more in the show.
But I do just want
to go to Scott right now
really quick.
So, Scott,
you're the science lead
for the sample return capsule.
Talk to us.
I mean, did it
perform as expected?
I mean, it was really amazing
hardware to do what it did.
Yeah, the sample return
capsule or RC,
as we often call it,
was required
to do an awful lot
of different things for us.
And it really performed.
I mean, it had to open
and close at the right time
for us
to get
the sample tucked away in it
at a seal tight
and keep the sample safe
the whole time
it was in flight
back to the Earth
and then it had to be delivered
at just the right place
and time
in the Earth's atmosphere
so that it reentered
and ended up
at the recovery site.
And then, of course,
it had to do on the job
of protecting the sample
from the intense heat
that happens
when you enter the atmosphere
at that high speed.
You can see in these pictures
the black char that's on the
the sample return capsule
from that heat of entry.
And then
and then it had to pop
open its parachute
so itself
down to its final
velocity and land
and as you can see, it was we
we stuck the landing.
We came down right on the nose.
Yeah.
Other than the char that we see
obviously on the capsule there,
I mean it really looks
almost still perfect, you know,
no dings,
no scratches,
nothing like that.
Now that
from the marks on the ground,
we can tell that it
hit almost straight down.
But it did a little hop
onto its side
and bounced
and bounced off its side
and rolled back into
the original hole.
So it
you know,
if this was a gymnast,
it would have been a 9.95
because it hit the landing,
but it had to make
a little hop.
So, Scott,
now that the sample return
capsule is back
and there's all the signs
that has to be done
on what's inside, obviously
what it brought
back, the sample.
Your job isn't
over, though, right?
Like you still have a lot
to go with this mission.
Yeah,
I've heard the whole science
team there.
Now we get to do
the analysis of the samples,
which is really key.
But for the s RC,
we also are doing some things,
making measurements
and doing analysis to
understand how
well it performed.
And also we can use information
from the RC to inform us
about potential contaminants
and to make sure we know how
to recognize them
if we find them
in the bennu sample.
And so we'll get some science
out of those analysis
as well as
engineering knowledge.
So say back to you again.
Let's talk about that process
that you started to talk about.
So canister is open
and let
let's take every opportunity
to show that picture of the
the canister open again.
But the canister is open.
So now what
when do we get in there
to look at the sample and
really know what we have?
Right.
So when we look at
that image,
you can see that
the tagsam
is still locked into place
and there's an indication
that there's a ring of black
dust around there.
And we're hopeful
that that actually
is asteroidal material.
So what the team is doing
right now
is I took this image,
I took a series
of other images,
lots of different angles,
and they're going to go through
and we get to pick an area
where we can collect material
probably first thing
tomorrow morning.
And I have what I call my Tiger
team standing by.
That's a group of scientists,
both from NASA,
University
of Arizona, Purdue University,
and they're ready to get this
into the laboratories.
We're also going to send
some out
to our colleagues
at the Natural History
Museum in London,
because they have
some special expertise
that we want
to take advantage of.
And the first question is,
is that actually
asteroidal material?
Most likely it is,
but we have to do
that verification
and then we're going
to start to test.
Okay, is Bennu made out of what
we think
it's made out of based on the
remote sensing
we did with the spacecraft
when we were in the vicinity
of the asteroid
and then the curation teams
got to go through
and they're going to collect
all that material,
containerized it,
get it secured.
There are some witness plates
on top of Tagsam
and other places around there
that recorded the environment
that all of that hardware saw
when it was in flight.
That needs to be secured.
And the real moment
that we're excited about
and we may get to it this week
and we may not,
because we're going to go as
carefully as we need to,
is pulling the tagsam off
that, capturing,
flipping it over on to a stand
and we'll get to see
the bottom of it.
The part
that actually touched
the surface of the asteroid,
There's contact pads
which are designed to pick up
fine grained material
right from the surface,
and maybe we'll even
get to peek inside.
There's that
infamous troublemaker,
the rock
that propped the flap open
right after
we collected the sample.
I'm looking for that,
you know, just to say,
we got you,
we got you back on Earth.
But also we think
it's a really nice large stone.
So we're excited
to see if it's there.
And then we'll move
Tagsam into its own cabinet
and there's an
elaborate process
to disassemble it,
and that might take
as much as another week
or so before we start to get
that bigger material out.
So that's the treasure box.
That's what
we're hoping to have
some information
maybe by mid-October
that we can share
with art with our fans and
our viewers around the world.
Yeah, obviously,
as you said,
an elaborate process.
So we'll be keeping
an eye on everything.
And I know that we're hoping.
Right, to be able
to share some information
with everybody
on October 11th at 11 a.m.
Eastern Time.
Right now,
we're inviting people
to tune into NASA's YouTube
and social media channels
to see the actual sample
and discover
what researchers like
Dante and Scott
have discovered so far.
So, again, set
your calendars, your phones.
I know I have
wanted to have
something to say by then.
Maybe it will have something
really interesting.
By October 11th,
we're optimistic
we'll be able to share
some really great news
by that time.
That's exciting. Okay.
So the question on
some people's minds might be
why this particular asteroid?
What do we hope
to specifically
learn from venue?
If Don, say you want to start?
Yeah, Ben is a very
special kind of asteroid.
It's dark
and we think that means
it's loaded
with a very important
chemical element.
Carbon
carbon is the central element
to all life on earth.
And you got to remember
Bennu and the minerals
that it's comprised
of formed over
four and a half
billion years ago
at the dawn of
our solar system.
And it represents
the kinds of objects
that we think brought the water
that's in our oceans,
the molecules
that's in our atmosphere,
and maybe even the
organic material
that led to the origin of life
on our planet.
So we're going back
to the distant past
to try to understand
and address the big question
where did we come from?
And maybe if we can figure
that out, we can start to say,
Are we alone in the universe?
So we picked venue
because of this
really interesting composition
and we're can't wait to get in
and verify
that black dust that we saw
on the deck there
surrounding Tagsam
gives me some hope
because one thing carbon does
is it
make things very dark
and very black.
So immediately
we have a good sign
that we might
have actually brought
that kind of material
back from this asteroid.
And that's a Bennu was
also chosen to write
for for the study of planetary
planetary defense.
Yeah, that's
actually a great part
of our mission.
So we had to pick an asteroid
that was easy to get to after
you launched off the Earth,
rendezvous with and get back.
And because of that,
orbital dynamics,
that means Bennu comes
very close to the earth.
And in fact, in the future
may come uncomfortably
close to the planet.
It is a potentially hazardous
asteroid with a small
but non-negligible chance
of impacting the earth
about 160 years from now.
So I don't want people to worry
too much about this
happening soon,
but this is an important
assurance policy
for this particular asteroid.
But I think more importantly,
we have
developed the technologies
now to get out
to one of these objects,
characterize its physical
and chemical properties
and plot its future trajectory
hundreds of years
into the future.
So in the event
that we have to deal with
any incoming asteroid,
the information
and the knowledge
that we gained from OSIRIS-REX
will be invaluable to
those future activities.
Scott How long have you
been a part of this mission
and how does it feel like today
after all that time?
Well, let's see.
Dante's It's been
almost 20 years now.
I guess,
since the very first time
we started to suggest an asset
that this would be
a good thing to do.
So yeah,
it seems
kind of like a lifetime,
just about
So, yes, that's like he
he alluded to that.
You've been with this project
for for 20 years.
How do you feel?
Yeah,
we first conceived of this idea
in 2000, four February,
so almost 20 years ago now.
And it is a lifetime
pursuit, right?
I mean,
we dedicated our careers
to making this mission succeed,
and it was all driven
by what we are about to embark
on, which is sample analysis.
Right?
So in 2004, we were like,
Wow, wouldn't it be great
if we could have a
fresh sample of carbon
rich asteroid
in our laboratories
to address these
outstanding questions
that we can't answer
any other way?
And persistence, patience,
plenty of heart
pounding moments,
including the ones that we had
on Sunday.
Later, here we are,
Mission success.
We have brought this capsule
to Johnson Space Center.
We've opened it up
and we've just got a few stages
to go
before we can really declare
that we have done everything
that we've promised this
agency we would do.
Great.
And if
I haven't said
it, congratulations
to you guys on all this so far.
Thank you.
Now, we have lots of questions
coming in from viewers
watching online.
So remember,
you can submit those questions
using hashtag ask NASA
or posting that
in the comments section
wherever you're watching today.
Okay.
So our first question is from
General Space
three on Instagram asking,
what's the significance
of having this asteroid sample?
Will it
help with space exploration?
That's a great question.
Yes, absolutely.
There's many
aspects to the Osiris-rex
science investigation.
We already talked
about the origins,
the fact that Bennu
is a treasure
trove from the dawn
of the solar system.
And we talked
about the
security investigation venue
being a potentially
hazardous asteroid,
and our ability
now improved
to predict
its future trajectory.
But another part is resource
identification.
Bennu is an accessible object.
As these things go, it's
relatively low energy
to rendezvous with
and now we've proven
to bring material
back to the earth.
One element
or compound
that we think
is particularly abundant
on this asteroid is water
and water.
You can process
into liquid hydrogen
and liquid oxygen.
That's
one of the most powerful rocket
fuels that we know of.
So I love to think about
in the future,
people will be taking
the information
we collected from Osiris-rex,
using it to design
this asteroid mining missions
and building these fuel depots
in space
to further exploration
to the surface of the moon,
to Mars and beyond.
Really, it's
enabling even more science
than maybe
you guys had even thought of
when you first
created this idea.
Absolutely.
All right.
And we have another question
here.
Actually, many of our viewers
are asking
a very similar question.
What happens to the Osiris-rex
spacecraft itself?
Does it
burn up in the atmosphere?
Well, the good news is
the answer is no.
It will not burn
up in the atmosphere
because right
after we released
that sample return capsule,
we fired our rocket engines
and moved away
from the intercept trajectory
with our planet that we were on
and the name changed.
It is no longer Osiris-rex.
It is now Osiris Apex.
It is on a journey to another
very important near-Earth
asteroid named Apophis.
And I'm really proud of
the legacy.
Apophis is a fascinating
object.
It's about 300 meters across,
so a little smaller than Bennu.
But in 2029, it's
going to come within
20,000 miles
of the surface of the Earth.
That's closer than our weather
satellite's orbit right now.
So it's the biggest,
closest approach of an asteroid
for a thousand years.
And I'm passing the torch.
The new principal investigator
is now Professor Daniela Della
Ernestina from the University
of Arizona.
She's taking the reins.
It's her spacecraft
and her team.
They're going to lead this
next journey to Apophis.
Scott, you might want to
take this next question.
So this is from Facebook.
During entry, did
the intense temperature
of the capsule
have any effect on the sample?
So, yeah,
this is one of the
important things
the capsule does,
is it kind of acts,
you know, So
when we get a meteorite,
it enters the atmosphere
and a large
part of the meteorite
is is basically vaporized
as lost.
So rather than us
losing our sample
this way, the
the heat shield on
SIRC actually
does the bleeding.
And so as you generate
heat, it's carried away.
Is this gas?
You see this
trail behind in the image here.
This is the heat
of deceleration going away.
And so the heat,
a lot of the heat
doesn't penetrate
into the middle of the SIRC
because
the hot material is swept away
before it can conduct any
heat inside.
So the analysis
that's been done suggests
that even though
the outside in this plasma
can be, you know,
5000 degrees or so,
the inside of the capsule
is not expected
to get above about 50 degrees
C, So this
this heat shield
protects our sample from that
very severe environment
and just sweeps it away.
Yeah, that's so impressive.
Hackman 617 on YouTube asks,
What are some of the things
that this asteroid sample
will tell us about
how our solar system formed?
Will the importance
of this mission
be understood
by future generations?
Excellent question.
Absolutely.
So as I mentioned before,
we're looking at ancient
material older
than any rock on earth,
even older
than our planet itself.
And we're really
interested in the water,
which probably formed
as icy material
out in the outer solar system
when we were still
a protoplanetary disk.
When planetary systems
are forming,
these giant molecular
clouds collapse.
You form a star
and then the material
that's left over
creates a disk.
And inside that disk
you have all this fascinating
chemistry taking place.
So we're looking at
how did water
get into the solid material?
What happened
when that ice
got into an asteroidal
sized object?
It probably got nice and hot
and melted
and formed a fluid
and altered the minerals
that were originally present.
So we really want to understand
protoplanetary disk
and asteroid
geological processes
to figure out how
these minerals
and chemistry changes
and ultimately
how they get delivered
to the inner solar system
to make earth a
habitable world.
I really
am interested in
this question on Instagram.
What was the biggest challenge
for this project?
Or maybe you personally?
I think either of
you can answer
that question as well.
Scott, where you want to start?
Yeah, I'm trying to think
what's biggest.
There were a lot
of challenges, so
but the team,
the team worked their way
through all of them.
I mean, that's certainly
one of the challenges.
This was,
you know, Bennu didn't
get our proposal in advance.
You know that
you look
at some of the artist's
conceptions of what
the tag was supposed
to look like
and the pictures
of the asteroid show
it looking
like a kind of gentle
beach of sand.
And we got there
and it was this
gigantic jumble of boulders.
And so we
we really had to back up
and figure out
where are we going to
get this sample from.
Yeah.
And I would say personally,
right, it's it's
you know,
we say space
flight are as long
periods of boredom punctuated
by moments of extreme terror.
And so you've got to learn
to keep your cool
when when things
are really happening
and and the moments are arising
and that
the thing
that has got us through
all of that is teamwork, right?
This is an amazing team.
You know, it's
the University
of Arizona, Lockheed
Martin, NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center,
Johnson Space
Flight Center, Ames Research
Center, where Scott is.
We all came together
as one team,
and that is what allowed us
to overcome all the challenges
and not only just perform,
but to excel. Right.
One of the things
I'm most proud of is
Osiris-rex has just nailed
every aspect
of our flight program.
Our launch was beautiful.
The rendezvous
with the asteroid.
Even as challenging
as Bennu was,
we figured it out.
We went down,
we got that sample,
we got so much sample,
it was overflowing.
We got it so stowed
safely away,
finished that two
and a half year journey
back to the earth.
And of course, that
beautiful pinpoint
landing that we saw on Sunday.
So all of those were extreme
challenges.
Every one of those
is really hard.
And we just nailed it
because of the outstanding
capabilities of the state.
Yeah, what
you guys were
able to accomplish
so far is super outstanding.
Having this question from I,
which one do I want to ask?
Let's see.
Lucas Wieser on X asks
Why did you pick this
specific asteroid?
And also this other question
How old is Bennu?
And I think I talked about this
a bit,
so we picked Bennu
because of its carbon
rich composition
and we also picked it
because of its earth
like orbit, right?
So we had a lot of
engineering constraints
when we were originally
designing the mission.
We didn't want to overachieve.
That is,
we didn't
want to get the spacecraft
too close to the sun
where it could get really hot.
We didn't want a complicated
thermal control
system, for example,
like the Parker Solar
probe,
the amazing mission
that NASA has
to touch
the surface of the sun.
It has to deal
with those intense temperatures
in the inner solar system.
We didn't want Osiris-rex
to have to overcome
that challenge,
so we couldn't have an asteroid
that wandered too far
into the inner solar system.
We also wanted to use
solar power
and we didn't want Giant.
Solar arrays
because we had to do precision
maneuvering around
the asteroid.
And the solar wind
pushes you around
just like a ship on the ocean.
So we wanted to stay
relatively close to the sun.
So they gave us a narrow
band of a little bit
closer than the earth
and almost as far out as Mars,
where we could
look for asteroids.
And then the final orbital
criteria was the inclination.
When that capsule enters
the top of the atmosphere,
there's a maximum speed
at which it will survive.
And if the asteroid is
orbiting at a plane,
much higher
than that of the Earth,
it would exceed that capability
and we would lose the capsule
as it passed
through the atmosphere.
So we needed what we called
an inclination
of less than ten degrees.
So those basic
orbital constraints
really narrowed
down the population
of asteroids
that we could target.
And then Bennu rose
to the top of the list
because of its size.
It's pretty big,
right over 600 feet
or 500 meters in diameter.
And it's rotating
relatively slowly.
And most importantly,
it had that dark surface,
which we believe indicates
a carbon rich composition.
And, of course,
we're going to verify that
in the weeks and years ahead.
Astro Exile on YouTube
asks How far away
was Bennu from Earth?
When Osiris-rex
collected the samples.
Who wants to take the one?
I'll go.
So because Ben is on
an earth like orbit,
but not exactly
on Earth's orbit,
sometimes it's
real close,
as we talked about earlier,
maybe a little too
close in the future.
And sometimes it's literally
on the other side of the sun.
And when we sampled
it was the latter case,
it was over
two astronomical units away
or what?
The way
I like to think about it
in light time,
it took over 18 minutes
to send a signal from the earth
across the solar system
to the spacecraft
and then over another
18 minutes to hear back.
So we were looking at almost
a 40 minute
roundtrip light time.
And that's
kind of how
you measure distances
when you're flying
a spacecraft.
How long does it take to
send a signal?
How long does take
to receive a signal?
And because of that time delay,
we had to have the spacecraft
be really smart.
It had to make
its own decisions
and guide itself
down to the surface for
that sample collection of it.
Wow.
As these questions are great,
please keep
sending them in again.
Remember,
you can use the hashtag
Ask NASA on social media
or anywhere
where you're watching
the show here.
Okay.
Marina Rippon on Facebook asks,
What are the chances
Bennu surprises us?
Not 100%.
Wow.
Both of you say times that it.
Who wants to go first?
Let's go.
That was an easy
question for me.
Well, I mean,
I fully expect that
we'll find some things
that are similar
to what we anticipate
and we'll find some things
where we sort of ask ourselves,
you know, who asked for that?
And that's, you know,
part of the joy of doing
this kind of analysis
is the surprises
make you sort of back up
and realize that your image
of what happened
needs to be revised.
And that's sort of how you
advance your understanding.
And so
I will be surprised
if we are not
surprised by something.
That's right.
You know, Bennu
is the trickster asteroid.
You know, it's been
challenging us
from the beginning,
and I fully expect
that's going to continue
with that sample.
And I can't wait now
because the
you know,
the engineering tasks are done,
like Lockheed
Martin delivered this sample
beautifully to us on Sunday.
And so all
the surprises
are science surprises.
And that's why
we got into this business
in the first place.
So as Scott said, right,
we are expecting
to be surprised.
And that's the best
part of your career
is like when you're like,
Wait a minute,
I didn't even think of that.
And now it means
these ten things
about the formation
of the solar system
that nobody had really
thought about before.
Now that this might
be the
most difficult question
you're going to get today,
but what are you
most excited about?
Looking forward
to studying the sample.
What are you
most excited about?
Well, I'm
sort of an organics guy.
One of my other jobs
is to run an Aster Chemistry
lab at NASA's Ames,
where I try to
simulate conditions in space
to find out
how radiation and ices
can be converted
into complex organics,
particularly
with an eye towards
what role
these are guys
can play for astrobiology,
for seeding planets
with most
interesting molecules
that can play a role
on starting life,
but also just
delivering carbon, oxygen,
nitrogen, hydrogen,
the kinds of elements
you need to make a biosphere
to make the planet habitable.
And so I'm really interested
in seeing the organics we get
because they're going
to tell us a lot
about those kinds of things.
I can compare them to my lab
results and try to understand
whether the chemistry
we're simulating is right
and then
someone did ask the question
about how old the asteroid is.
Components of the asteroid
will actually be older
than the solar system.
We will almost certainly
get interstellar grains
that are remnants from
other stars,
and we'll probably get
some material,
including organics
that was formed in that
giant molecular
cloud phase
that that gathered up
the material
that ultimately collapsed
to make our solar system.
So I think the organics
going to be really interesting
because they're going
to come from
before the solar system formed.
Some were made
while the solar system
was forming,
and some will have formed
on the Bennu parent body
while it evolved.
Wow, that's really exciting.
I can't
wait to see what you discover.
Metalloids on Ask
what will happen to the samples
after analysis is done.
Will they go to a museum?
Great question.
So, you know,
we're here at Johnson
Space Center
in the Aster Materials
Building and,
you know,
I'm looking right out
the window
here is where the Apollo lunar
samples are
curated to this day.
And they were collected from,
you know, 1969
into the early 1970s.
And researchers around
the world can still request
those lunar samples
for analysis
in their laboratories
because the instruments
are now much better.
We have all the knowledge
that was gained over 50 years
of scientific investigation.
So we keep pushing forward
and learning new things
about the formation of the moon
in the formation of the earth,
and the bedding samples
are going to be the same.
So they will be here at NASA's
Johnson Space Center,
where they are protected.
They're cared for.
I daresay
they are loved
by the curation team
that's here
with the job
to take care of them
so they will be available
for researchers
for decades into the future.
Some will go to our
international partners.
We're really proud
to have
the Canadian Space Agency
as a partner on this Irish rex.
They contributed the amazing
Osiris-rex Laser altimeter.
We have the Japanese Aerospace
Exploration Agency, JAXA,
part of our science team,
as well as having exchanged
asteroid samples
from their HAYABUSA2 mission.
So they will get material
from Bennu
to thank them
for their contributions
and to recognize the importance
of international collaboration.
And some of the material
will be going into museums.
We expect that there'll be one
at the Smithsonian
National Museum
of Natural History
in Washington, D.C.,
probably in November.
That display will open up
and we'll get some in Tucson,
where the University of Arizona
is based,
where I'm a professor
at our Gem
and Mineral Museum there,
and possibly
other museums around
the world will be requesting
and be able
to put bennu
samples on display
so everybody can come
and enjoy
the scientific treasure.
So it's
going for education, it's
going for science.
It's going to be a legacy
that persists for decades
and decades into the future.
Yeah, I love that
we're able to share this
with the world,
with the public, actually.
Since you mentioned
the Japanese asteroid research,
so one
person on YouTube asks
What makes this sample
return different
from the Japanese
return missions
and how different
is this asteroid?
Yeah, so we have worked
together with our partners
in Japan really
from the beginning
of both of these missions,
and the fact that both NASA
and JAXA decided to fly.
One of these kinds of missions
shows you the real value
that they have.
And the Hayabusa2
mission went to asteroid YUTU,
which also appears
to be carbonaceous.
And we verified that
with our sample
analysis campaign
that has been going on
for the past few years.
Their samples came back
in December of 2020.
They brought back about
five grams of sample.
We still don't know
how much we have.
That's one of the things
we're really excited
to find out is
what is the mass inside
that tagsam?
And we're going to take
a little while
to figure that out.
But we believe
we have about 50 times as much.
And that allows
that opens up
a whole new realm
of scientific investigation
because, as Scott mentioned,
he studies ices
and how they interact
with radiation in a new organic
molecules made for some
which may be central to biology
like amino acids
and nuclear bases.
You need a lot of material
to really get down to the trace
organic chemistry
that we're interested in
and the large mass return bio.
Cyrus Rex is going to open up
that whole new area
of investigation for us.
Wow.
Scott of you are on s
x asks,
does the sample contain water?
If so, did it
thaw on the way here?
Well, so we think it
probably contains water.
The spectral data
we got
at the asteroid indicates
that there are
materials present
that are kind of minerals
that are kind of like clays
where that you
have water content in them.
And we certainly see
a spectral feature
we associate
with the presence of that.
So we fully anticipate, well,
we'll find some water
in the samples.
And one of the things
we'll want to know is
what does that form?
Is it water adsorbed
to the minerals?
Is it structural water
where you have oxygen,
hydrogen, integrated
and mineral and so on?
But we are anticipating
that we'll we'll measure
those kinds of things.
Let's stick with you, Scott.
So Mark Jones on Facebook asks,
Do you expect
to find
live organisms in the sample?
No, not unless they get in
is contaminants.
And we're doing lots of work
to make sure
that doesn't happen.
I mean, one of the things
Dante and I
were doing at the recovery
was obtaining
environmental samples
that where we came down
so that we know
what potential contaminants
would look like if any of them
managed to get into the capsule
and so
we all well,
you know,
so we'll use soil samples
from this environment
to make sure that nothing
we measure
is actually from Utah.
It's all from Bennu.
But we don't expect
living organisms on Bennu.
They wouldn't survive there.
And
our every effort
has been to keep
the sample inside
as absolutely pristine
as we can.
So we do not anticipate
finding any kind of
of living creatures
inside at all.
Thank you for that answer.
Jeff Meyer on a YouTube asks
Was there an anomaly
with the parachute
rogue chute
that maybe
you want to take this one?
Well,
I can tell you that parachute
did exactly
what it needed to do.
It opened up
and brought that capsule
to a gentle landing
in the Utah desert.
I know our
colleagues at Lockheed
Martin are going to reconstruct
the entire entry, descent
and landing sequence
and understand
the details
of how it all played out.
I do know that
we had a drug chute
which deployed
and we had a main chute
which deployed.
And the exact
timing of that sequence is
what the Lockheed team
is going to reconstruct.
But I can tell you
there was no happier moment
in my professional career
than when I heard main
chute open.
And you can see this
fantastic footage.
By the way,
this is from NASA's
WB 57 aircraft
that was flying at 50,000
feet above our sampling site.
And they got that
beautiful shot
of the parachute open
and gliding
gently down to the surface.
So I don't know
the technical details.
My job is not to design
the parachute system.
My job is to guide this mission
to get a sample safely
down to the earth.
And that was
done to perfection.
Nicole is cool on Instagram
asks What type of earth rock is
bennu most similar to?
And related to that,
we also have this question
from Jaz Chavez on Facebook.
What is the difference between
the components of an asteroid
and the rocks that we see
on Earth?
Well, of course
we need to do
the sample analysis
to really know for sure.
So all we're working with
is what we learn
from our cameras
and spectrometers
on the spacecraft.
But I do have a student
at the University of Arizona
who's looking at rocks
from the mid-ocean ridge
that are called spent night,
and they're characterized
by a particular mineral
called Serpentine,
which kind of
has a wavy crystal form
to it, to give it
that kind of cool name.
And those rocks form
when material
from the mantle of the earth,
which makes up the bulk
of the rocky
material of our planet,
meets the water from the ocean,
and the water starts to react
and make those clay minerals
that Scott was talking
about earlier,
where you get water
inside the crystal structure.
We do see spectral evidence
of serpentine
on the surface of Bennu.
We see other kind of salty
minerals called carbonates,
which viewers might be familiar
with as the white press
that forms around your faucets.
If you live in an area with
hard water, that's calcium.
Reacting with the
carbonated fluid
to make calcium carbonate,
we see iron oxides
and we see the
organic material.
All of those also occur
at these alkaline
hydrothermal vents
near the mid-ocean ridge
where Mantle rocks
are your pet
nosing into
those other rock types.
So I think we might be looking
at something
like an oceanic
hydrothermal system.
Hm. Suspends.
Amazing. That's.
That's my word of the day
on YouTube.
Scott,
I think this questions for you.
How was the sample return
capsule landed so precisely?
And in the Utah
desert, the capsule itself
didn't have any thrusters.
Yes, I am sorry
if I was surprised by anything
when we got there.
It was that
it was sitting right
on the nose cone there that
when the Stardust sample return
capsule came back,
it bounced and spun
and rolled on its
rim for a while
and lay down and rolled around.
And so I was expecting
for there
to be a more complex
ground path
and to see it
just sitting there
right on the nose
kind of didn't even tip
over on to the side.
Just really caught
me by surprise.
But you can kind of see
in this image to the right,
there's a bit of a shadow
and a little lip of soil
sticking up.
And that's
when I finally understood
how it ended up on the nose.
It must have come down
with almost no crosswind.
So it came down
almost near vertical,
hit right
where it is now
and bounced up
and tipped to the right
in this image
and the rim there,
the outer rim
gouged into the soil
and plowed up
that little thing
that's sticking up
and that stopped it
from skittering any further
and then it just rolled back
into its original hole.
And so this is
maybe finding out exactly
just now. Sorry.
Go ahead. Go ahead.
Go ahead.
I guess like to add to that,
the question
was also about the fact
that it didn't
have the thrusters,
and that's a testament
to the Flight dynamics team,
which is the group of engineers
that plan the trajectory
and the perfect spacecraft,
which launched the capsule
on its four hour journey
through near-Earth space
before it hit
the top of the atmosphere.
So, you know,
I like to use the analogy
that the spacecraft
was the quarterback
and the flight dynamics team
was the coach that told it
where you needed to be
and how far
and how fast
you needed to throw it
so that it hit the exact spot
at the top of the atmosphere
that allowed it
to fly
over California, Nevada
and into Utah in 13 minutes
to land down
into that perfect position
that Scott was just describing
in the Utah desert.
If you can put
that last picture up again,
if you could pull up
that last picture that was on.
Yeah.
So around
dark area,
you see on the left
is where the nose
was sitting in there.
And the mark to the right of
that is where it tipped
over on its side
and rolled back
and all that black material
you see there is char
that the damp soil of the Utah
desert
sucked off of the shield.
So that's material that
basically soot
that was still on
the very surface of the capsule
and the clay sucked it off.
And that actually was a benefit
to us
because that soot,
when it got sucked off,
formed a layer between us
and the Utah soil.
So very little Utah
soil adhered to the CRC.
So we didn't have to worry
about that as a contaminant
that was carried off
with the capsule.
Wow.
Jordan Chap on YouTube
asks What inspired
the creation
of the Osiris-rex mission.
Well, I think it's human
curiosity, right?
So 20 years ago
I was a young assistant
professor and I was driven
to try to understand
the origin of life
and the origin of the earth
as a habitable planet.
And I came to realize
we can only take our
meteorite research so far.
And if we get into
the exact compounds
that are used in biology today,
like the 20
amino acids
that are critical
for our proteins
and the nuclear nucleic acids
that make up
our genetic material,
those are contaminated
very quickly in meteorites
by bacteria.
They probably are munching
on the same compounds
that our ancestors
did, you know, three
and a half billion years ago,
not too long
after the origin
of life on Earth.
So we lose that information
when it comes in
as a meteorite.
And I started to realize, boy,
if you really want to try to go
after this question
rigorously, scientifically,
you got to get out
to one of these carbon
rich asteroids
and bring it back
in a pristine state.
I'll admit it seemed like magic
at the time
that I was thinking about it.
But, you know, 20
years later, here
we are with the samples
in our laboratory.
We're about to address some
of those critical questions
here.
You can you can learn
a lot from meteorites.
But, you know,
they're all orphaned.
So we don't know where
any specific meteorite
comes from.
And so one of the things
this mission has done for us
is, you know, the SIRC
said, hey, here's a sample
and you know
where it came from.
So you can
you can tie this to home base.
And that's
going to be a huge benefit
for the rest of the analysis.
Yeah, that's important to know
because actually
a lot of people were asking
that question.
I was about to ask you
this question, actually,
What is
what is the difference
between studying
a meteorite
that falls on the earth versus
going out there?
So thank you
for clarifying that,
that for our viewers,
another question is
how many divisions of science
will get to study the sample?
That's an interesting question.
So I know we have over
200 scientists
using about 60 different
analytical techniques.
You know,
and the Cyrus Rex science
investigation really
is astrophysics, astral
chemistry, astrobiology,
planetary formation,
stellar evolution.
Scott alluded
to those interstellar grains
which formed in nuclear
magnetic environments
in ancient stars
and probably things
we haven't
thought of before, right,
Because they're available
to the world, these materials.
And there's people
asking questions
that this science team hasn't
hasn't addressed yet.
So if it involves outer space,
then you'll be able to work
with the bedding samples
to come up with some answers
to your questions.
And part of the power
of having the sample back
is that, you know,
20 years from now,
someone has a new technique
they can take the sample out
and measure it all over again
with a new technique.
So these things will
just keep giving.
And so with this question
of how many fields
are involved, well,
maybe they'll be new field
in ten years
that we don't have
a name for yet
and they'll get
to measure it too. So
that's a really great point.
Donnie Mertz on Facebook asks,
How can you tell
how old the bennu is?
So we have,
you know, inside these rocks
there are little clocks.
And when when I say that,
what I mean is there's elements
that are radioactive
and they decay
with a very predictable
half life.
So one of the ones
that we'll be looking at
that's most important
is uranium,
very well known
chemical element
because it's used
in nuclear energy
and nuclear reactions
and it turns into lead.
So we're going to look
at the abundance of uranium.
We're going to look
at the abundance of lead.
We know how long it takes
uranium to convert into lead,
and we can use the abundances
of those elements
and in particular
specific isotopes,
which are different
forms of the same element
that have different
atomic masses.
And we can
then calculate
how long that system
was undergoing decay
without any disturbance,
without losing lead or adding
uranium or anything like that.
And there's other
similar systems that we use.
They all generally involve
radioactive elements
that decay
in a very predictable way
into elements
that we're familiar with,
and we can look
at the abundance of those two
and then determine
how long that process
took to go to reach
the state that we measure.
And there may be
some small amounts of material
like these interstellar dust
I mentioned earlier,
where we won't
necessarily be able to date it,
but we'll know that it
since it comes from a star,
it pre-dates the solar system
so we can put
a minimum age on it
and it will undoubtedly
find some of that material to
David Colburn on Facebook
asks, Did we discover that
the surface of the new
was not as dense
as previously thought?
Yeah, I mentioned earlier
that that means
the trickster asteroid
and that was one of
the final tricks.
When we went in to collect
the sample.
Scott talked about it earlier.
We had these great
computer animations
of what we thought
was going to happen
as we were going to hit
a solid surface basically,
and grab them, feel
right off the top.
But when you look at
this amazing footage,
you can see that
we really moved
a lot of material there.
I like to use the analogy
of one of those ball pits
at a kid's playground, right?
We just sunk
right into that
asteroid surface
with almost
no resistance whatsoever.
And we went in
about a foot
and a half,
like the length of my arm
down into the subsurface
of the asteroid
where we predicted
we might go down an inch or
so at the most.
So it was very soft.
And as we analyze
the data,
we realized that's
because the density
was incredibly low.
It's about one sixth
the bulk density
of your average rock on earth
and about one half
the density of water ice,
which is one of the lowest
density, major
solid materials that we know of
in the solar system.
So then it really surprised us
in a good way in this case,
because we went so deep
and we were in contact
with the asteroid
for a lot longer
than we expected.
We got a lot more material
than we had
designed the mission to.
Gosh, this
mission has been
so exciting for the
for the last seven years.
All these questions
are talking about launch.
We're talking about
collecting the sample.
And now here it is
back on Earth.
So really thrilling.
We have another question
on YouTube.
Naim Ahmed asks,
What are some of
the most innovative
and exciting experiments
that scientists could perform
on the asteroid sample
got?
Well,
I almost hesitate
to suggest anything
because I don't want to diss
anybody else.
I mean
that, you know, Dante mentioned
how many analytical techniques
we're going to apply
to these samples and
frankly, quite amazing.
I mean, there are people
be basically counting
atoms of different elements
or even isotopes
tearing these rocks apart
down at the atomic scale.
And they'll be people
worried about these rocks
at the molecular scale,
and they'll be people
be worried about these rocks
at the mineralogical scale
for minerals and petrology.
So want to know which minerals
are next to other minerals,
because that tells you
something about the environment
and it puts
constraints on
what has happened and
they're all amazing
in their own right.
I mean, they all
provide information
which is really unique.
That's
why we're using them all.
And
so I would be hard
pressed to say $0.01
better
than any of the others is
what will really be
powerful
is the use of all of them
in combination.
Because then you can see,
you know, every technical,
see some things that make sense
and some things
that puzzle them
and the things that puzzle them
may be addressable
by information
that comes
from another technique.
And so sharing our data,
putting it all
together is going to allow us
to figure some things out
that no individual
technique would sort out.
It's that collaboration.
That's great.
You guys have been
talking about it
throughout this entire show
that the team
is going to continue
being a team.
I love it.
Another question on X
does that or
could there be a world
where the sample contains
any elements
not known
on our periodic table?
Well, we have a periodic table
pretty well
figured out at this point,
so I don't think we'll discover
any new elements.
But what we may find
are new minerals,
which are combinations
of elements
that occur
under environmental conditions
that may not
happen on the surface
or in the interior
of the earth.
So the chemical elements
are very well understood.
But the minerals,
you can always
find new minerals
because these
are very different,
you know, literally
alien environments
compared to what
we have here on Earth.
And we do find a lot
of unique minerals
in meteorites that don't occur
in terrestrial environments.
And I wouldn't
be surprised
if we pull something
out of bennu
that we haven't seen before
in that regard.
That's
how the mineral or sorry,
how the atoms are arranged
in crystal structures
to make a mineral.
Well, you have said Bennu
is a trickster asteroid,
so I'm
pretty sure I'll be right.
This is another question on X.
Is there something and a Scott?
It sounds like
this one's for you.
Is there something
or what is in place
to guarantee
that entry into Earth's
atmosphere
did not affect the samples?
Well,
so we live on an earth
full of biology and organics
and so there are no guarantees.
And so the approach we've taken
is to do everything to keep it
as clean as possible
and also do everything we can
to make sure
that we can recognize anything
that doesn't belong.
So, for example,
in these environmental samples,
for some reason,
although given
the way we landed,
I doubt it, it's
highly unlikely,
but it's a little piece of Utah
dust, got through the back
vent and got into the RC.
Since we have these
environmental samples,
anyone who sees this is like,
Wow, this is different
from all the rest of this.
Maybe Bennu had
a, you know, a salt lake on it
like Utah.
We would say, no, look,
compared to the soil,
you'll find out
you've got a little piece
of Utah there. So it's side,
you know, and so
so you do everything you can
to prevent contamination.
And then you also do everything
you can to recognize it.
If it happens.
And in the case of organics,
since we are in an environment
just in,
we're just surrounded
by organics,
you need to be to work
very hard at that
and be very careful
and make sure
when you measure thing,
when we measure things
in the samples, we're
going to be spending
a lot of time
trying to convince ourselves
that this is really
from the sample
and not from anyplace else.
Right.
This is a fun
question, actually.
Matt Pike on YouTube asks,
How do you think your peers
from the early Apollo missions
era would react to the fact
that we are now able to return
samples from asteroids?
I would think they'd
be really proud
because it's their legacy,
right?
And their vision
and their inspiration.
A lot of us were inspired
by those missions
to go into this kind of field
and to ask these questions
and to realize
you can do something
amazing like this, right
when you have the right team
and the right support
and the right environment.
And they were
the ones that showed
it was possible, right?
They were the pioneers.
And so we owe a lot
to the legacy
that they left behind.
And when you're here at Johnson
Space Center,
you can't help but feel it
because it's around
every corner, right?
You see some some
historical memory
from those areas,
including those great rocks
which are right
across the way here
in Building 31.
And that that
legacy has inspired,
I think, all of
us in this business.
Emmy on YouTube asks how
how heavy is the sample?
Well, that is to
be determined, right?
We were able to make
an estimate
while we were in outer space,
but that's hard to do.
And we actually didn't
get to use the sample mass
measurement technique
we designed
because we had that challenge
of collecting too much sample
and our collector
was overflowing.
I use the metaphor of a bucket
that you fill all the way
to the top with water,
and then if you try to move it
around, you're not going to
you're not going
to have to lose some of it
over the lip,
a little bit unstable.
We estimate
there's about 8.8
ounces or 250 grams in there.
But that's what
we're going to be doing over
the next couple of
weeks, is getting all of that
material out of that tagsam,
getting it into containers
that we know
the weight of very precisely,
and then figuring out
how much the sample weighs
now that it's here on Earth.
So stay tuned.
You know,
I think Megan talked
about the October 11th event,
and that is something that we
should have for you by then.
Yeah, I'm getting
a lot of
the same question, really.
And I know
we touched on it before,
but why don't we revisit it
since we're getting a couple
of the same questions
again, how long before we know
what is in the samples?
So we're hoping
because we opened up
the canister today
and we did see that
there is some black dust
like material that's visible.
We're hoping that's from Bennu.
So we expect that
we'll be collecting
a portion of that
in the morning,
tomorrow morning,
and that'll go right
to the laboratories.
We have a team
that's standing by.
We have instruments
that are at the ready
and we'll be getting data
tomorrow
and by Friday
we should have
a pretty good sense
of what that quick look
analysis is telling us.
First of all, do we
in fact have asteroid dust?
That's the first thing.
Is it
the kind of material
that we expected
based on the remote
sensing that we did
at the asteroid?
And how does that fit
into our sample analysis plan,
which we've been writing
over the past few years
in great detail?
Can we follow the plan
or is Bennu tricked us so much?
We need to kind of rewrite
that plan
from from scratch, Right.
I'm hoping that's not the case.
We do a lot of work into that
and then
that's the quick sample.
So that's just the dust
that we can visibly see
right now.
The real treasures
inside Tagsam,
which we're not going
to get access to
until probably late next week.
And that is going to be
a very deliberative process
to figure out
what is the nature
of that collection
and how do we
fairly distribute it
to our international partners,
to the science team
for a service rex,
and also preserve the long term
integrity
for future researchers.
So we've got to say tuned.
I know it's hard to be patient,
but trust me,
nobody is working
harder than I am
to maintain
our cool
while this team carefully
goes through their process
to get that material
properly curated and safely to
the science team.
I like the distinction you
made that that quick look.
The first kind of analysis is
basically the
the sample
that you're seeing
outside of the collector
before you can say
some of those are
bigger discoveries,
really got to get in there.
But that's going to probably be
at the end of next week.
Like you said.
Okay.
So we're actually
running out of time.
I hope that we got to
as many questions
as as we could have.
I know that
we were getting
a lot of questions,
so thank you
to those
who sent in the questions
as well as also
you guys
for answering those questions.
But I do have one final one.
You know,
we're we're talking about
this being the first U.S.
mission to bring back
an asteroid sample to Earth.
Again.
Let's just hammer home
for everyone
why this is so significant.
Is it?
Yes, the scientific
discoveries.
But also the legacy
that this is going to leave?
Yeah, I'm really proud of the
Osiris-rex legacy.
Already we've done
a phenomenal job characterizing
asteroid BENNU
at a higher resolution
than any other planetary body
in the solar system.
So that already
is unprecedented.
And of course, we brought
that sample back down to earth
and it's going to be here
at NASA's
Johnson Space Center
for decades into the future.
Sample return
is the gift
that just keeps on giving.
We're going to have
a great science
analysis program
over the next two years,
but there's going to be people
in the future
that are going to be smarter
with better instruments
and building on the knowledge
that we've accumulated.
So I expect
for the rest of my life
I will be reading papers
about the analysis
of samples from Bennu
and being surprised
and learning new things
by all of the clever
people in the future.
They're going to ask
those great questions
and get those amazing entries.
Yeah, I'm sure this
will inspire, you know,
upcoming generations
to really get into this field
and figure out,
you know,
all these
all these questions
we still have
about our solar system.
So it's really wonderful.
Well, thank you,
Dante and Scott.
It was so great
chatting with you
and learning
about NASA's of Cyrus
Rex mission
and all
that is planned to come.
Thank you.
And thanks to
all of the viewers
and those fantastic questions.
It's really great
to hear from you.
Keep asking us. All right.
We can still get asked
and ask the questions
and maybe
we'll be able to ask them
to answer them
on social media in the future.
So please stay engaged.
We love you guys.
We appreciate your interest
and thank you for
a great mass aloft.
I second all of that.
It's got a man of few words
when that says the right
and what.
But thanks for having us.
It's been fun.
Oh yeah it has been fun and
and very engaging.
Like Dante said,
it was really great to see
all the questions
that were coming in.
I tried to get in
as most
as I tried
to get as most in as possible,
but there was a lot to cover.
So again, thank you
to everyone
who joined us online
and I love that
we were able to answer
so many questions.
We hope you keep following
NASA's efforts
to study our solar system
and beyond
and you can do that
by following NASA's
solar system
on Facebook and Instagram.
To stay updated
on this mission,
you can visit
NASA's DOT gov slash Cyrus
hyphen rex.
There will be a lot
of exciting
findings
from this asteroid sample,
as you heard
both Dante and Scott
tell you about.
And we want you to be a part
of this journey with us.
Finally, remember,
this is just the beginning
of what we will learn
from this asteroid.
Bennu sample.
Tune in again
October 11,
October 11th at 11 a.m.
Eastern Time to join us
as Dante and his team
reveal what they've learned
so far
from the sample of the now.
Thank you and we'll
see you next time.