by MarkBour » Thu Oct 22, 2020 12:52 pm
As I read about the TAG maneuver, the gas bottles, and the method of sample collection, it is all very creative. I suppose that up until OSIRIS-REx arrived at Bennu, there were a lot of unknowns, and this technology probably provided a high probability of at least gathering some sample under a lot of scenarios.
But now we've seen Bennu up close, and we've seen some other asteroids/comets up close as well. In the future, I think a high-quality scoop mechanism will work well and will retrieve as large of a sample as we want to carry home. 10 kg, 100 kg, whatever you want to design for.
I'd be happy if some NASA engineer were to explain to me if I'm wrong about that, but the whole asteroid appears to be a loosely packed pile of rubble. In fact, I wonder if one were to latch onto Gargoyle Saxum, how much thrust would be needed to pull it loose.
As I read about the TAG maneuver, the gas bottles, and the method of sample collection, it is all very creative. I suppose that up until OSIRIS-REx arrived at Bennu, there were a lot of unknowns, and this technology probably provided a high probability of at least gathering [i]some[/i] sample under a lot of scenarios.
But now we've seen Bennu up close, and we've seen some other asteroids/comets up close as well. In the future, I think a high-quality scoop mechanism will work well and will retrieve as large of a sample as we want to carry home. 10 kg, 100 kg, whatever you want to design for.
I'd be happy if some NASA engineer were to explain to me if I'm wrong about that, but the whole asteroid appears to be a loosely packed pile of rubble. In fact, I wonder if one were to latch onto Gargoyle Saxum, how much thrust would be needed to pull it loose.