Engineers struggled to open the sample canister for months, but it was all worth it for twice the amount of asteroid they thought they were getting. Reading time: Reading time 2 minutes After opening ...

The once inaccessible sample container has been fully opened, and NASA has released the numbers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Late last year, a spacecraft containing samples of 4.6-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu landed safely in the desert after a 1.2-billion mile journey. There was only one little problem: NASA couldn’t ...

NASA's OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft collected dust and pebbles from asteroid Bennu and returned the sample to Earth in 2023. Credit: NASA Goddard / University of Arizona After months struggling to open ...

When the OSIRIS-REx dropped a capsule in the Utah desert last year, it made headlines around the globe for returning NASA’s first sample of an asteroid to Earth. Scientists were eager to get their ...

NASA's Osiris-REx mission has successfully returned a pristine sample of asteroid back to Earth. This cupful-or-so of space rock could shed light... NASA asteroid sample lands safely in Utah before ...

A view of the outside of the OSIRIS-REx sample collector. Photo: NASA/Keegan Barber The OSIRIS-REx curation team is a winner of the 2024 Gizmodo Science Fair for safeguarding pristine samples of an ...

Alfredo has a PhD in Astrophysics and a Master's in Quantum Fields and Fundamental Forces from Imperial College London.View full profile Alfredo has a PhD in Astrophysics and a Master's in Quantum ...

After years of anticipation and hard work by the mission team, the University of Arizona-led NASA OSIRIS-REx mission has successfully landed a capsule with rocks and dust from the asteroid Bennu in ...

Ever since we learned that an asteroid slammed into Earth, wiped out the dinosaurs, and changed the course of life on this planet, scientists have wondered if it could happen again. It turns out there ...

Scientists have identified life’s key ingredients and signs of the stew needed to mix them in asteroid samples brought back to Earth by a University of Arizona-led space mission. The rocks and dust ...

In his book, the principal investigator of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission describes the frantic morning of final checks before the launch. The following is an excerpt from The Asteroid Hunter: A ...