NASA probe OSIRIS-REx ‘boops’ asteroid Bennu in historic mission

After a four-year journey, NASA’s robotic spacecraft OSIRIS-REx briefly touched down on asteroid Bennu’s boulder-strewn surface on Tuesday to collect rock and dust samples in a precision operation 200 million miles (330 million kilometers) from Earth… More about OSIRIS-REx in the link below…

This (silent) animation shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft deploying its Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) to collect a sample of regolith (loose rocks and dirt) from the surface of the asteroid Bennu. The sampler head, with the regolith safely inside, is then sealed up in the spacecraft’s Sample Return Capsule, which will be returned to Earth in late 2023. Scientists will study the sample for clues about the early solar system and the origins of life. Credit: NASA/Goddard

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-nasa-probe-osiris-rex-boops-asteroid.html