https://www.theguardian.com/science/live/2023/sep/24/bennu-asteroid-sample-nasa-osiris-rex-mission-earth-updates [p] Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to key eventsSkip to navigation Print subscriptions Sign in Search jobs Search US edition[ ] * US edition * UK edition * Australia edition * International edition * Europe edition The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian [ ] * News * Opinion * Sport * Culture * Lifestyle ShowMoreShow More * [ ]News + View all News + US news + World news + Environment + US politics + Soccer + Business + Tech + Science + Newsletters + Fight for democracy * [ ]Opinion + View all Opinion + The Guardian view + Columnists + Letters + Opinion videos + Cartoons * [ ]Sport + View all Sport + Soccer + NFL + Tennis + MLB + MLS + NBA + NHL + F1 + Golf * [ ]Culture + View all Culture + Film + Books + Music + Art & design + TV & radio + Stage + Classical + Games * [ ]Lifestyle + View all Lifestyle + Fashion + Food + Recipes + Love & sex + Home & garden + Health & fitness + Family + Travel + Money * Search input [ ] google-search Search + Support us + Print subscriptions * [ ]US edition + UK edition + Australia edition + International edition + Europe edition * + Search jobs + Digital Archive + Guardian Puzzles app + Guardian Licensing + The Guardian app + Video + Podcasts + Pictures + Inside the Guardian + Guardian Weekly + Crosswords + Wordiply + Corrections * + Facebook + Twitter * + Search jobs + Digital Archive + Guardian Puzzles app + Guardian Licensing * US * World * Environment * US Politics * Soccer * Business * Tech * Science * Newsletters * Fight for democracy Nasa 'A treasure for scientific analysis': Nasa holds Bennu asteroid sample press conference - as it happened The blog is now closed, but you can read the full story about the successful Osiris-Rex sample touchdown here Updated 4m ago Nicola Davis and Maya Yang Sun 24 Sep 2023 18.13 EDTFirst published on Sun 24 Sep 2023 09.03 EDT * * * Key events * 8m ago Closing summary * 45m ago Osiris-Rex principal investigator Dante Lauretta on sample capsule landing: 'I literally broke into tears' * 52m ago Nasa chief scientist Eileen Stansbery on canister condition: 'It was extremely clean on the inside' * 1h ago Nasa to hold press conference shortly on historic sample capsule landing * 5h ago Interim Summary * 6h ago The sample capsule has arrived at the clean room facility * 6h ago The helicopter transferring the sample capsule to the clean room has taken off * 6h ago Queen member and astrophysicist Brian May 'immensely proud' to be part of Osiris-Rex * 7h ago Nasa administrator Bill Nelson on sample landing: 'The impossible became possible' * 7h ago Sample capsule lands in Utah desert * 8h ago Bennu sample contamination prevention explained * 8h ago The sample capsule's expected retrieval process explained * 9h ago The significance of Bennu explained * 9h ago Sample capsule expected to land at 10:55am ET near Salt Lake City The sample return capsule from NASA's Osiris-Rex mission lies on the ground shortly after touching down in Utah desert on Sunday. [ ] The sample return capsule from NASA's Osiris-Rex mission lies on the ground shortly after touching down in Utah desert on Sunday. Photograph: Keegan Barber/AP The sample return capsule from NASA's Osiris-Rex mission lies on the ground shortly after touching down in Utah desert on Sunday. Photograph: Keegan Barber/AP Nicola Davis and Maya Yang Sun 24 Sep 2023 18.13 EDTFirst published on Sun 24 Sep 2023 09.03 EDT * * * Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Live feed Key events * 8m ago Closing summary * 45m ago Osiris-Rex principal investigator Dante Lauretta on sample capsule landing: 'I literally broke into tears' * 52m ago Nasa chief scientist Eileen Stansbery on canister condition: 'It was extremely clean on the inside' * 1h ago Nasa to hold press conference shortly on historic sample capsule landing * 5h ago Interim Summary * 6h ago The sample capsule has arrived at the clean room facility * 6h ago The helicopter transferring the sample capsule to the clean room has taken off * 6h ago Queen member and astrophysicist Brian May 'immensely proud' to be part of Osiris-Rex * 7h ago Nasa administrator Bill Nelson on sample landing: 'The impossible became possible' * 7h ago Sample capsule lands in Utah desert * 8h ago Bennu sample contamination prevention explained * 8h ago The sample capsule's expected retrieval process explained * 9h ago The significance of Bennu explained * 9h ago Sample capsule expected to land at 10:55am ET near Salt Lake City Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature 8m ago18.09 EDT Closing summary It is slightly past 4pm in Utah, where the historic sample capsule from Nasa's Osiris-Rex mission carrying samples from the asteroid Bennu landed earlier this morning. Here is a wrap-up of the day's key events: * The sample capsule arrived at the highly secured clean-room facility in Utah following its landing earlier this morning in the desert. This significant moment marks the successful delivery from the Utah desert into the clean room, and of course the 1.2bn-mile journey from the asteroid Bennu back to Earth. * Mission members also obtained samples from the surrounding area of the landing zone. Nasa TV showed scientists taking photos around the landing zone as well as measuring air and gas levels. * Sir Brian May, of Queen, has told Nasa TV he is "immensely proud" to be an Osiris-Rex mission team member. May was among those who helped to identify the location on Bennu where the samples would be collected. * Nasa administrator Bill Nelson hailed the Osiris-Rex mission's success following its capsule's landing in the Utah desert today. "This mission proves that Nassa does big things, things that have inspired us, things that unite us," he said. * By studying the samples from Bennu, scientists can compare their results against the data they obtained from instruments on board the spacecraft. This "ground-truthing" means they can then calibrate the latter, allowing them to more accurately explore differences in composition across the surface of Bennu. * "What an incredible day this has been," said Lori Glaze, director of Nasa's planetary science division. "These types of samples, they are truly the gifts that keep on giving. They are a treasure and this mission Osiris-Rex is kicking off a decade of sample return," she added. * "We're going to start processing that sample we hope as early as Tuesday of next week," said Osiris-Rex principal investigator Dante Lauretta. "We don't want biological organisms interacting with this so we plan to exclude it from any contact with bacteria or anything else that might compromise our scientific investigation." * "When they took the back shell off, it was extremely clean on the inside. It was remarkably similar to prior to launch," said Nasa chief scientist Eileen Stansbery. "The spacecraft itself must have worked extraordinarily well." * Scientists say that they expect to have a "pretty good idea of what the nature of the collection is" by 14 October. They added that one of the key scientific objectives for the sample analysis program is to characterize its thermal properties. That's it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for following along. * * Updated at 18.13 EDT 25m ago17.52 EDT "What we're really looking for is that hypothesis one ... did we accurately characterize the mineralogy and chemistry of the surface of the asteroid?" said Lauretta. "Did our remote sensing instruments work and did our data processing lead us to the right conclusions?" he continued. * * Updated at 17.56 EDT 28m ago17.50 EDT "One of the key scientific objectives for our sample analysis program is to characterize the thermal properties," said Osiris-Rex principal investigator Dante Lauretta. He added that the mission team is working alongside partners at the University of Arizona, as well as partners in Japan and Canada to "measure thermal conductivity, thermal skin depth and bulk density, and other key parameters that will feed into understanding the thermal inertia." * * Updated at 17.51 EDT 33m ago17.44 EDT "The Utah Test and Training Range is an amazing place to land a sample," said Mike Moreau, Osiris-Rex recovery lead at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center. "It's very flat, it's free of hazards, and they have these amazing tracking resources here," he added. * * Updated at 17.46 EDT 36m ago17.41 EDT "The reason why we should be investing our taxpayer dollars in these missions of exploration - of course, the science is fantastic, the engineering is beyond amazing - but the inspirational value is really where the long-term payoff comes from these," said Lauretta. "This is about the future generations," the Osiris-Rex principal investigator continued. "I teach undergraduate and graduate students, and so many of them said, 'We are here because of Osiris-Rex, we came to Tucson because the Osiris-Rex mission was based here.' "It was just an amazing example of what people can do when we put aside our differences and focus on a common goal. We can achieve great things - this country can achieve great things but we have to work together to make that happen," he said. * * Updated at 17.45 EDT 38m ago17.39 EDT "Did we bring back what we thought or is it something completely different? Knowing Bennu, it might be a little both, so I can't wait to see that," said Lauretta. He added that he expects to have a "pretty good idea of what the nature of the collection is" by 14 October. * * Updated at 17.41 EDT 41m ago17.36 EDT "It's the end of a journey and the beginning of a new one because we're going into the atomic realm," added Lauretta. "We're going into the mineralogy, the chemistry, the organics and the history of the solar system, which is what I signed up for all those years ago," he said. "I'm getting really excited about getting into the lab and really digging into the samples and answering all the questions that have come up before we launch and especially from our encounter with asteroid Bennu ... A lot of new science ideas came out of that," he added. * * 45m ago17.32 EDT Osiris-Rex principal investigator Dante Lauretta on sample capsule landing: 'I literally broke into tears' "I literally broke into tears," said Dante Lauretta, Osiris-Rex principal investigator, as he described the moment the main chute opened. "I knew we made it home ... It was overwhelming relief, gratitude ... and really trying to convince myself that I wasn't dreaming, that it was actually happening, that the chute was open, that the capsule was coming down and we got that science treasure in hand," he added. * * Updated at 17.36 EDT 52m ago17.25 EDT Nasa chief scientist Eileen Stansbery on canister condition: 'It was extremely clean on the inside' "The engineering team today is documenting the handling, ensuring that we understand the environment that the science canister is in and making way for the next generation of understanding a new world," added Stansbery. "When they took the back shell off, it was extremely clean on the inside. It was remarkably similar to prior to launch. It makes you wonder: did we actually open it up at some point? But I know we opened it," she said. "The spacecraft itself must have worked extraordinarily well, that all of the engineering that went in to ensure that the ... canister was going to remain clean, did their job," she added. * * Updated at 17.29 EDT 55m ago17.22 EDT "These samples are an amazing treasure trove for generations," said Eileen Stansbery, chief scientist at Nasa's Johnson Space Center. "The entry into the clean room has gone extremely well. They're processing the capsule, removing portions of the canister so that they can get a continuous flow of nitrogen into the sample canister to ensure that there is no contamination from the Earth's atmosphere into that canister and maintain the pristine entity of the samples." She added that once the sample capsule is processed through the clean room, 200-plus people all over world can start studying the samples. "The curatorial team at the Johnson Space Center is working hand in glove with the spacecraft engineering team and the science team to ensure that we are processing and handling this sample return capsule in a measured, methodical, well-choreographed sequence," she said. * * Updated at 17.24 EDT 1h ago17.17 EDT "This capsule literally has a personality and it understood the assignment," said Tim Priser, chief engineer for deep space exploration at Lockheed Martin. "It's the best job an engineer could ever have, to help a scientist go gather this knowledge. It just is so thrilling and rewarding," he said. "Today, Osiris-Rex, not only four hours before entry, did she understand the assignment and put this sample return capsule on a path to hit an entry interface that needed to be so precise that you didn't skip out of the atmosphere, or you hit it too deep and you burned up before you had a chance to get to the ground. So she did that flawlessly," he added. * * Updated at 17.26 EDT 1h ago17.12 EDT "We don't want biological organisms interacting with this so we plan to exclude it from any contact with bacteria or anything else that might compromise our scientific investigation," said Osiris-Rex principal investigator Dante Lauretta. "We're going to start processing that sample we hope as early as Tuesday of next week," he said. * * Updated at 17.27 EDT 1h ago17.10 EDT "It was pulse pounding, I'm sure for you watching it, even more for those of us in the helicopters, waiting for that main shoot to come out," said Dante Lauretta, the Osiris-Rex principal investigator who was part of the recovery team. "We were with bated breath, making sure that we came down for a nice soft landing in the Utah desert, and it worked spectacularly well ... It didn't roll, didn't bounce. It just made a tiny little divot in the Utah soil. So for the environmental sampling team, that was great," he said. "I couldn't be more proud. And just to remind you, not only did we bring this mission in on schedule, under budget and delivered more science than we had ever thought was possible with the encounter with Bennu, but we think we've got a lot of sample in that canister," he continued. * * Updated at 17.28 EDT 1h ago17.06 EDT "What an incredible day this has been," said Lori Glaze, director of Nasa's planetary science division. "These types of samples, they are truly the gifts that keep on giving. They are a treasure and this mission Osiris-Rex is kicking off a decade of sample return," she added. "Those [samples] are going to be a treasure for scientific analysis for years and years to come to our kids and our grandkids and people who haven't even been born yet," she continued. * * Updated at 17.10 EDT 1h ago16.50 EDT Nasa to hold press conference shortly on historic sample capsule landing Hello blog readers, Welcome back! Nasa is set to hold a press conference at around 5pm ET on the historic sample capsule landing from Nasa's Osiris-Rex mission earlier today. Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates from the press conference. * * 5h ago13.33 EDT Interim Summary Here is a look at where things currently stand: * The sample capsule has arrived at the highly-secured clean room facility in Utah following its landing earlier this morning in the desert. This significant moment marks the successful delivery from the Utah desert into the clean room, and of course the 1.2 billion-mile journey from the asteroid Bennu back to Earth. * Mission members also obtained samples from the surrounding area of the landing zone. Nasa TV showed scientists taking photos around the landing zone as well as measuring air and gas levels. * Sir Brian May, of Queen, has told Nasa TV he is "immensely proud" to be a team member of Osiris-Rex. May was among those who helped to identify the location on Bennu where the samples would be collected. * Nasa administrator Bill Nelson hailed the Osiris-Rex mission's success following its capsule's landing in the Utah desert today. "This mission proves that NASA does big things, things that have inspired us, things that unite us," he said. * By studying the samples from Bennu, scientists can compare their results against the data they obtained from instruments on board the spacecraft. This 'ground-truthing' means they can then calibrate the latter, allowing them to more accurately explore differences in composition across the surface of Bennu. We will be back at 5pm ET for Nasa's press conference on this historic landing and will deliver the latest updates. * * Updated at 13.44 EDT 5h ago13.07 EDT Here is video of the moment the sample capsule got rolled into the temporary clean room facility in Utah: Your package has been delivered. The #OSIRISREx sample return capsule containing rock and dust collected in space from asteroid Bennu has arrived at temporary clean room in Utah. The 4.5-billion-year-old sample will soon head to @NASA_Johnson for curation and analysis. pic.twitter.com/ Ke0PcDAKt0 -- NASA (@NASA) September 24, 2023 * * 5h ago13.00 EDT Crew members have rolled the sample capsule into the highly-secured clean room and are set to extract the sample canister from the capsule. This significant moment marks the successful delivery from the Utah desert into the Utah test and training range clean room, and of course the 1.2 billion mile journey from the asteroid Bennu back to Earth. * * Updated at 13.01 EDT 1 of 4NextOldestOldest Explore more on these topics * Nasa * Space * Asteroids * * * * * * Reuse this content Most viewed Most viewed * US * World * Environment * US Politics * Soccer * Business * Tech * Science * Newsletters * Fight for democracy * News * Opinion * Sport * Culture * Lifestyle Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning Sign up for our email * About us * Help * Complaints & corrections * SecureDrop * Work for us * * Privacy policy * Cookie policy * Terms & conditions * Contact us * All topics * All writers * Digital newspaper archive * Facebook * YouTube * Instagram * LinkedIn * Twitter * Newsletters * Advertise with us * Guardian Labs * Search jobs Back to top (c) 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (modern)