NASA published photos taken from the navigation camera's (NavCam 2) field of view on October 20 when OSIRIS-Rex reached and took samples of the surface of asteroid Bennu.
The spacecraft was taken from the Nightingale site during NASA's sample selection case for the OSIRIS-REx mission. As the spacecraft approached the spot, the sampling arm's shadow is seen in the lower part of the film.
Then, the sampling head influences the Nightingale site and fires a bottle of nitrogen gas to trigger a large volume of material. These photos were taken by NavCam 2 when the team on Earth obtained confirmation at 6:08 pm EDT of the good Bennu touchdown.
The sampling head reached the asteroid's surface after a mere six seconds until the spacecraft burned back-away when the shadow of the sampling arm was noticeable again alongside the unsettled materials on the asteroid's surface.
What's The Buzz All About?
Since the sample is locked up in the Sample Return Capsule, NASA's OSIRIS-Rex posted a clip of the Bennu touch-and-go project on Twitter. "This is the view from one of my navigation cameras... pretty intense, huh? #ToBennuAndBack," the tweet said.
Now that the sample is sealed up in the Sample Return Capsule, I can finally share this video from TAG! This is the view from one of my navigation cameras… pretty intense, huh? #ToBennuAndBack More details: https://t.co/JUSk8YDaow pic.twitter.com/TqPUm9YBvU — NASA's OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRISREx) October 30, 2020
The video intrigued science enthusiasts. Twitter netizen Richard Butler loved the phenomenon and liked how Bennu corrected its "cool" landing trajectory. Because the video was on black and white cameras, some Twitter users got confused about the color of the samples.
would it actually be brown though? I kinda assumed that it was just grey but I do know NASA have used black and white cameras before I think — blizz (@fairyflosslord7) October 30, 2020
One of OSIRIS-REx 's three cameras for its Touch-and-Go Camera Scheme (TAGCAMS) is NavCam 2, a black-and-white camera. Malin Space Science Systems has developed TAGCAMS and is run by Lockheed Martin Space. It is used in the navigation, power, and guidance system of the spacecraft.
The Bennu TAG Photos
Within a three-hour duration, the video was recorded and started around an hour after the spacecraft conducted the orbit departure maneuver. In the center of the film, the spacecraft rotates, so the NavCam 2 looks away from the asteroid, then did a final slew and aimed the camera and the sampling arm again toward the surface of Bennu. After a back-away burn, the clip finished a few minutes later.
The video was developed using 189 images taken by NavCam 2 for the navigation system of the spacecraft, Natural Feature Tracking (NFT), which enabled OSIRIS-Rex to autonomously navigate to the surface of Bennu using the built-in catalog of images and compare them with real images. During the sampling case, NavCam 2 took pictures of Bennu 's terrain, so the NFT could change the location of the spacecraft as it descended toward the target touchdown field.
Scientists are now studying, with the latest photos, what induced the incredibly dark areas found in the middle and upper parts of the images. The shadow on the upper region could be attributed to the sampling arm or the shadow cast by surface materials as they suspect. They may be a depression induced by a spacecraft thruster or the lofted material for the center portion.
ALSO READ: NASA Set to Land on Bennu, Could Find New Clues on the Start of Life
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