“The spacecraft did everything it was supposed to do.” The Osiris-Rex spacecraft sent back confirmation of its contact with asteroid Bennu more than 200 million miles away, drawing cheers from the mission team. As a result, the spacecraft had to reach out with its 3.4-meter robot arm and attempt to grab at least 60 grams of Bennu. After nearly two years orbiting Bennu, the spacecraft found this location to have the biggest patch of particles small enough to be swallowed up. Contact was expected to last a mere 5 seconds to 10 seconds, with the spacecraft quickly backing away. Japan expects samples from its second asteroid mission — in the milligrams at most — to land in the Australian desert in December.

Source: Hindustan Times October 21, 2020 00:27 UTC