NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft delivered 4.29 ounces (121.6 grams) of material from asteroid Bennu when it returned to Earth on Sep. 24, 2023;
The largest asteroid sample ever collected in space and over twice the mission’s requirement.
The mission team needed at least 60 grams of material to meet the mission’s science goals
In October 2023, curation processors from the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center
Disassembly of the TAGSAM head was paused in late October 2023,
After designing, producing, and testing new tools, the ARES curation engineers successfully removed the fasteners in January and completed disassembly of the TAGSAM head.
From NASA Johnson’s repository, the Bennu material will be containerized and distributed for researchers to study.