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NASA’s First Asteroid Sample Has Landed, Now Secure in Clean Room · Elon Musk Podcast

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  Hi everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the show
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  where we discuss some of the most groundbreaking advancements
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  in science and technology and contemplate the actual wonders
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  of the universe. In today's episode, we're
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  focusing on NASA's monumental achievement of completing its
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  first ever sample return mission from an asteroid.
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  The mission, named Osiris Rex, set the science capsule all the
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  way to asteroid Benduin back, covering a journey of about 1.2
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  billion miles. Launched in 2016, the capsule
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  reentered Earth's atmosphere at around 27,000 mph and has
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  delivered several 100 grams of asteroid material, offering
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  invaluable data that could help scientists understand our solar
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  system's earliest stages. Now, the capsule from Osiris Rex
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  spacecraft made its grand reentry into Earth's atmosphere
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  and finally landed in the Department of Defense's Utah
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  Test and Training Range. The landing site dimensions are
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  about 30 miles by 8.5 miles, who's chosen primarily because
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  of its status as the largest restricted airspace in the
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  United States. This venue has also been used
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  for previous NASA sample return mission such as Genesis and
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  Stardust, and the mission involved an incredible degree of
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  precision. Sandra Freund, the Osiris Rex
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  program manager, explained how the spacecraft had to navigate
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  with remarkable accuracy to rendezvous with asteroid Bennu
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  coming within just a meter of the target during the sample
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  collection phase in 2020. And recovery teams promptly
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  collect this sample from the Utah desert, initiating the
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  Campsule's journey towards analysis and examination.
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  So why did NASA invest in a simple return mission from an
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  asteroid? The principal investigator for
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  Osiris Recht noted that scientists are keen to study
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  trace organic molecule chemistry from the asteroid material.
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  It's not about suggesting that life originated elsewhere.
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  Rather, the idea is that essential building blocks of
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  life, often referred to as organic compounds, might have
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  been ferried to Earth by celestial bodies like asteroids.
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  And to adequately test this hypothesis, researchers need
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  samples directly from these asteroids, like Bennu and
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  previous meteorites were used. But they had limitations, such
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  as the lack of information about their origin and the risk of
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  contamination during their journey through Earth's
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  atmosphere. And Osiris Rex offers pristine
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  samples, providing an unparalleled opportunity for
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  scientists to confirm or refute longstanded theories.
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  And NASA isn't alone in this quest to bring back asteroid
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  samples. The Japanese space agency JAXA
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  has already completed two such missions, Hayabusa and Hayabusa
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  2 in the latter managed to return around 5 grams of
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  material from asteroid Ryugu in 2020.
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  And unlike competitive races, researchers say that these
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  missions are complementary. They work together, and both
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  asteroids Ryugu and Bennu may look similar with their spinning
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  top shapes, but they are different in size and color.
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  By examining the sample side by side, scientists can gain
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  valuable insights into both the similarities and differences
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  between these celestial bodies. And Loretta puts it this is not
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  about two separate sample analysis programs, but rather a
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  worldwide collective scientific endeavor.
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  To comprehend Earth's formation, it's essential to scrutinize the
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  whole solar system. Planets and star systems form
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  from collapsing gas clouds, which are represented by
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  remnants found in the oldest asteroids and asteroid.
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  Bennu is considered to be a snapshot of the solar system's
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  early days, dating back approximately 4.5 billion years.
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  And unlike Earth, which undergoes natural processes like
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  erosion that wipe out the earliest history, asteroids like
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  Venue serve as cosmic time capsules.
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  They hold the raw materials that predate even the oldest rocks on
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  Earth, making them incredibly precious for scientific
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  analysis. Osiris Rex has now brought a
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  fragment of this early solar system history back to Earth,
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  and researchers are eager to commence detailed
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  investigations. And after successfully returning
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  the sample, you might wonder what's next for the Osiris Rex
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  spacecraft. Well, it's got a new mission and
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  a new name, Osiris Apex. The spacecraft will now set its
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  sights on asteroid Apophis, which will make a close approach
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  to Earth in the coming years, potentially even visible to the
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  naked eye from specific locations.
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  And Osiris Apex will be tasked with following Apophis around
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  Earth, providing unique opportunity for additional
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  groundbreaking scientific observations.
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  And As for the banning sample, it's going to be transported to
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  Johnson Space Center in Houston, and within an hour and a half of
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  the landing of this capsule, it was transported by helicopter to
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  a temporary clean room set up in a hangar on the training range
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  where it is now connected to a continuous flow of nitrogen.
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  And getting a sample under a nitrogen purge, as scientists
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  call it, was one of the Osiris Trexes team's most critical
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  tasks. And nitrogen is a gas that
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  doesn't interact with most other chemicals, and a continuous flow
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  of it into the sample container inside the capsule will keep out
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  earthly contaminants to leave the sample pure for scientific
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  analysis. The return samples collected
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  from Bennu will help scientists worldwide make discoveries to
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  better understand planetary formation and the origin of
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  organics and water that led to life on Earth, as well as
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  benefit all of humanity by learning more about potentially
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  hazardous asteroids. Now the Bennu sample is about
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  8.8 oz, or 250 grams, and it'll be transported in its unopened
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  canister by aircraft and NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston
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  on Monday, September 25th. Curation scientists then will
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  disassemble the canister, extract and weigh the sample,
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  create an inventory of these rocks, dust in overtime,
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  distribute pieces of Bennu to scientists all over the world.
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  And this delivery of this asteroid sample, which is the
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  first for the United States, went according to plan thanks to
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  the massive effort of hundreds of people who remotely directed
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  the spacecraft's journey since its launch September 8th, 2016.
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  And the team then guided it to arrive at Bennu December 3rd,
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  2018 and through the search for a safe sample collection site
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  between 2019 and 2020 and sample collection on October 20th,
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  2020, and also during the return trip home on May 10th, 2021.
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  Now, after traveling billions of miles to Benu and back, the
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  Osiris Rex spacecraft released its sample capsule towards
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  Earth's atmosphere at 6:42 AM Eastern Time, and the spacecraft
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  was 63,000 miles from Earth's surface at the time, about 1/3
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  the distance from the Earth to the Moon, traveling at 27,650
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  mph. The capsule pierced the
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  atmosphere at 10:42 AM Eastern Time off the coast of California
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  at an altitude of about 83 miles, and within 10 minutes it
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  landed on the military range. Along the way, 2 parachutes
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  successfully deployed to stabilize and slow the capsule
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  down to around 11 mph. Radar, infrared and optical
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  instruments in the air and on the ground track the capsule to
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  its landing coordinates inside a 36 by 8.5 mile area of the
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  range. Within several minutes, the
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  recovery team was dispatched to the capsule's location to
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  inspect it and also retrieve it. And the team found the capsule
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  in really good shape at around 9:07 AM Eastern Time and or
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  11:07 AM Eastern Time. Excuse me.
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  And then determined if it was safe to approach.
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  And within 70 minutes they wrapped it up for a safe
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  transport to a temporary clean room on the range where it
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  remains under continuous supervision and a nitrogen
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  purge. Thank you so much for tuning
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  into this episode today. If you enjoyed today's
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  discussion and want to hear more like this, remember to hit the
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  and takes only a minute. So please, until next time, stay
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  curious and keep exploring the cosmos and take care of each
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  other and yourselves and I'll see you in the next one.