Global Fastener News

NASA is struggling to access most of the rock and dust sample that its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft brought back from the asteroid Bennu. The team is having issues loosening two of the 35 fasteners on the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), Hot Hardware reports.

While the space agency has been able to retrieve 2.48 ounces (70.3 grams) of rock and dust from the sampler hardware, the inability to loosen two of the fasteners on TAGSAM has the team changing its approach to opening the TAGSAM head.

“The two stubborn fasteners are refusing to loosen with current tools approved for use in the OSIRIS-REx glovebox,” Hot Hardware reports. “This has led the team to begin developing and implementing new approaches to extracting the material inside the head, while maintaining the safe and pristine state of the sample.”

Currently NASA is practicing a new procedure to remove the remaining asteroid sample from the TAGSAM sampler head while simultaneously processing the material that was previously collected. The team will also continue to characterize the extracted material and start the analysis of the bulk sample already obtained.

The work is being conducted in a specialized glovebox under a flow of nitrogen to keep it from being exposed to Earth’s atmosphere. This will preserve the sample’s “pristine state” for future scientific analysis. The team must develop tools that can fit within the glovebox and not compromise the scientific integrity of the collected rock and dust sample.

NASA has removed the TAGSAM head from the active flow of nitrogen in the glovebox and stored it in its transfer container while the procedure to access the final portion is being developed.