NASA getting ready to retrieve samples collected from asteroid with help from EaglePicher

Andy Ostmeyer, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·4 min read
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Jun. 27—Billions of years "An ancient relic of our solar system's early days, Bennu has seen more than 4.5 billion years of history. Scientists think that within 10 million years of our solar system's formation, Bennu's present-day composition was already established. "Bennu likely broke off from a much larger carbon-rich asteroid about 700 million to 2 billion years ago. It likely formed in the Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter, and has drifted much closer to Earth since then. Because its materials are so old, Bennu may contain organic molecules similar to those that could have been involved with the start of life on Earth." SOURCE: NASA

NASA is getting to ready to run through dress rehearsals this summer in anticipation of the return of a spacecraft that made contact with and collected samples from the asteroid Bennu with the help of a Joplin company.

The samples are to be returned to Earth in September.

Bennu was discovered in 1999.

Patrick Lynch, spokesperson for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, this week called the mission "historic," as it marks the first U.S. trip to and back from an asteroid.

Launched Sept. 8, 2016, the uncrewed Osiris-REx spacecraft is powered by four EaglePicher batteries, according to Ron Nowlin, senior vice president of program management for the Joplin-based company. Two 28-volt, 30-amp lithium-ion batteries, charged by the spacecraft's solar panels, provide power to the primary spacecraft.

The Delta V rocket, which launched the craft out of Earth's orbit in 2016, also had between 10 and 14 of the company's silver-zinc batteries powering it.

"We started this project about 10 years ago," Nowlin said, acknowledging that the mission has been going on so long it is easy to forget that the spacecraft is still out there.

In 2018, the spacecraft, which is about the size of a van, arrived at Bennu, an asteroid 200 million miles from Earth. In 2020, it collected a sample by hovering just above the boulder-strewn surface while the spacecraft's collection device — described by one NASA scientist as looking like "an air filter for a '57 Chevy on the end of a ... pogo stick" — touched Bennu's surface. Moments later, a compressed jet of nitrogen gas stirred up a debris field of tiny rock and dust particles to be gathered into the sampler head at the end of the probe's 11-foot robotic arm. Soon after, Osiris-REx completed its back-away burn from the asteroid.

Scientists were able to confirm the spacecraft collected 2 ounces of rock and dust from the asteroid.

It began its journey back to Earth in 2021.

As the main craft nears Earth this fall, the return capsule, which will enter orbit at a speed of 27,000 mph, will be released while the primary craft remains in space. This secondary craft is powered by two of the company's 28-volt, 17-amp lithium-ion batteries.

"They provide the electrical power after it is jettisoned by the spacecraft," Nowlin said.

Scott Dixon, public affairs specialist for the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, said the samples will be collected after parachuting to Earth and then taken to a "clean" room so they will not be contaminated.

From there, they will be flown to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, to another newly built clean room in the astromaterials laboratory.

Oct. 11 will be the day the sample is revealed to the public, NASA officials said. Hundreds of scientists from the world will get to study the material that was brought back.

Scientists hope the samples will help them answer questions concerning the origins of the universe and perhaps even life on Earth.

Nowlin said "it can be nerve-wracking" knowing the power of their batteries is what is required to bring back a mission, especially one with a duration as long and as important as this.

But he added they have "high confidence," given a history that goes back to 1958's Explorer 1 satellite launch. EaglePicher batteries and power systems have been used in spaceflight since then, including Apollo missions, on Mars rovers, the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope.

"We've never had a space mission lost because of one of our batteries yet," Nowlin said.

He added that the company just delivered batteries to NASA for the Orion Space Capsule, the crewed capsule that will be used to return astronauts to the moon.