Set as Homepage - Add to Favorites

日韩欧美成人一区二区三区免费-日韩欧美成人免费中文字幕-日韩欧美成人免费观看-日韩欧美成人免-日韩欧美不卡一区-日韩欧美爱情中文字幕在线

【????? ????? ?????? ?????】How NASA's asteroid sample survived despite a parachute flop

Before NASA recovered a capsule holding bits of space rock from the desert,????? ????? ?????? ????? the landing sequence for the OSIRIS-Rex mission seemed flawless.

The space agency plucked the nose-down pod from the Utah Test and Training Range, an enormous military base southwest of Salt Lake City, shortly after it arrived on Sept. 24. The capsule didn't roll or bounce — just made a tiny little divot in the dirt that had been softened by rain the week before.

That was a fortunate ending for the seven-year, 4 billion-mile journey to asteroid Bennu and back: A key parachute called a drogue did not open as NASA had planned. Dante Lauretta, the team's principal scientist who nervously waited in a nearby helicopter at the time, cried when he finally heard confirmation the main parachute opened.


You May Also Like

"That was the moment I knew we made it home," he said.

A little over two months since the successful return of the OSIRIS-Rex mission capsule — short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security Regolith Explorer — the team has some answers for why the drogue, designed to slow the capsule down during its rapid descent to Earth, did not deploy when expected.

SEE ALSO: NASA spacecraft zooms to new asteroid after dropping capsule on Earth

About four hours before the landing, flight controllers commanded the spacecraft to drop the capsule while it was still 63,000 miles above the planet — over a quarter the distance from Earth to the moon. Meanwhile, they were aiming for a target of only 250 square miles on the ground. NASA and the University of Arizona, which led the mission, likened the challenge to throwing a ball over 10 football fields and landing it perfectly in the farthest end zone.

At its highest speed, the capsule, protected by a heat shield, traveled 27,650 mph, engulfed in a fireball. The drogue was supposed to deploy at an altitude of about 100,000 feet.

That didn't happen.

Instead, when the capsule reached 100,000 feet, a signal triggered the parachute system to cut the drogue line — while it was still stowed in the capsule. As the capsule continued to plunge, free-falling at breakneck speed, the drogue eventually deployed at about 9,000 feet above the ground. But because the drogue line had already been severed, the chute just separated.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Despite that error, the main parachute opened as expected at an altitude of 10,000 feet. Because of its robust design, the parachute was able to stabilize the capsule for a soft landing, albeit touching down about a minute earlier than planned, according to NASA.

So what went wrong?

Why the OSIRIS-Rex drogue parachute didn't deploy

Engineer inspecting the landed asteroid sample capsuleLockheed Martin's Victoria Thiem performs preliminary checks on the sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex mission, shortly after it landed in a Utah desert. Credit: NASA / Keegan Barber

In short, some miswiring may have been the culprit that caused the chutes to fire out of order, according to NASA after reviewing the landing video and documentation. The design manual included some confusing instructions, using the word "main" inconsistently for the device that sends the triggering electrical signals and the device that receives the signals.

"On the signal side, 'main' meant the main parachute," according to NASA. "In contrast, on the receiver side, 'main' was used as a reference to a pyrotechnic that fires to release the parachute canister cover and deploy the drogue."

When engineers connected the two "mains," that could have caused the parachute deployment to happen out of order.

NASA handling the asteroid sample containerMari Montoya, left, and Curtis Calva collect asteroid particles around the OSIRIS-Rex sample canister in a cleanroom glove box. Credit: NASA

Want more scienceand tech news delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newslettertoday.


Related Stories
  • NASA needed help with a mission. The Vatican came to the rescue.
  • How asteroid Bennu got its odd name and other facts
  • NASA just flew home its first asteroid chunks from outer space
  • NASA's dropping off a space package from 63,000 miles high

NASA will confirm this by testing the system responsible for the parachutes. The mishap investigation is a critical procedure for the agency, preventing any avoidable mistakes from happening in the future.

The test can't happen right away, though, as the space agency doesn't have access to the hardware. Right now, it's in a clean room glove box at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Once scientists are done processing the asteroid sample, engineers will be able to retrieve it.

NASA analyzing an asteroid sample canisterOn the right side of this image, pieces of asteroid Bennu are visible atop the sample collector. Credit: NASA / Erika Blumenfeld / Joseph Aebersold

Why NASA can't open the OSIRIS-Rex sample canister

But that may take a while. The team has had trouble opening the canister containing the bulk of the rock and dust sample. In the meantime, scientists have swept up some of the material that leaked into the external container for analysis, more than 60 grams' worth, which exceeded the agency's goal. Some of those bits have been shipped off to different institutions for research already.

In an October update, NASA officials explained that the top of the canister, which has been previously estimated to hold perhaps a half-pound or a cup's worth of rubble, is jammed shut. Two out of 35 fasteners are stuck, and the tools within the contamination-free glovebox have not been able to pry them open.

Now the team is working on new strategies to get the material out.

"The tools for any proposed solution to extract the remaining material from the head must be able to fit inside the glovebox and not compromise the scientific integrity of the collection," according to NASA, "and any procedures must be consistent with the clean room’s standards."

Topics NASA

0.1552s , 9947.875 kb

Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【????? ????? ?????? ?????】How NASA's asteroid sample survived despite a parachute flop,Public Opinion Flash  

Sitemap

Top 主站蜘蛛池模板: chinese国内自拍露 | 久久亚洲综合色一区二区三区 | 秋霞无码AV久久久精品 | 一本视频精品中文字幕 | 国产欧美目韩91综合一区婷婷久久久 | 伊伊人成亚洲综合人网 | 二区无码国产97人妻人人做人碰人人爽 | 一区二区免费视频 | 99久久综合国产精品免费 | 麻豆入口进入在线 | 国产日韩美国成人 | 2024国产成人午夜精品福利 | 日本福利在线观看 | A片女女女女女女BBBB | 日韩精品在线观看中文字幕 | 欧美又大又粗又爽无码视频 | 久久久久国产精品片区无码 | 国产精品免费一区二区三区在线 | 亚洲国产精品自在在线 | 国产白袜脚足j棉袜在线观看 | 亚洲欧美一区二区三区麻豆 | 日本黄网站三级三 | 91avcom | 久久久久精品国产亚洲hav无码 | 久久久久久精品天堂无码中文字幕 | 日本熟妇乱人伦A片一区 | 91麻豆精品激情在线 | 91制片厂果冻传媒七夕 | 精品999久久久久久中文字幕 | 久久国产亚洲高清观看555 | 亚洲AV久久无码精品热九九 | 欧美日韩黄色网站在线免费 | 日韩毛片无码中文专区 | 无码一区二区三区在线精品无码 | 欧美体内she精视频 欧美体验区 | 福利麻豆人妻婷婷色香五月综合激激情 | 国产亚洲欧美视频在线观看 | www视频免费在线观看 | 国产精品久久久久不卡绿巨人 | 91精品国产高清久久久久久伦理片电影免费在线 | 激情综合在线 |