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Tuesday 20 OcTOber 2020
Touch-and-go: US spacecraft sampling asteroid for return

By MARCIA DUNN Earth will be.
AP Aerospace Writer When Osiris-Rex blasted off
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) in 2016 on the more than
— After almost two years $800 million mission, sci-
circling an ancient asteroid entists envisioned sandy
hundreds of millions of miles stretches at Bennu. So the
away, a NASA spacecraft spacecraft was designed
this week will attempt to to ingest small pebbles less
descend to the treacher- than an inch (2 centime-
ous, boulder-packed sur- ters) across.
face and snatch a handful Scientists were stunned
of rubble. to find massive rocks and
The drama unfolds Tues- chunky gravel all over the
day as the U.S. takes its first place when the space-
crack at collecting asteroid craft arrived in 2018. And
samples for return to Earth, pebbles were occasionally
a feat accomplished so far seen shooting off the aster-
only by Japan. oid, falling back and some-
Brimming with names in- This undated image made available by NASA shows the asteroid Bennu from the OSIRIS-REx times ricocheting off again
spired by Egyptian mythol- spacecraft. in a cosmic game of ping-
ogy, the Osiris-Rex mission Associated Press pong.
is looking to bring back at Mike Moreau. heed Martin near Denver pire State Building — was With so much rough terrain,
least 2 ounces (60 grams) Once it drops out of its half- can't intervene. around when our solar sys- engineers scrambled to aim
worth of asteroid Bennu, mile-high (0.75 kilometer- If the first attempt doesn't tem was forming 4.5 billion for a tighter spot than origi-
the biggest otherworld- high) orbit around Bennu, work, Osiris-Rex can try years ago. Scientists con- nally anticipated. Night-
ly haul from beyond the the spacecraft will take again. Any collected sam- sider it a time capsule full of ingale Crater, the prime
moon. a deliberate four hours to ples won't reach Earth until pristine building blocks that target, appears to have
The van-sized spacecraft is make it all the way down, 2023. could help explain how life the biggest abundance
aiming for the relatively flat to just above the surface. While NASA has brought formed on Earth and possi- of fine grains, but boulders
middle of a tennis court- Then the action cranks up back comet dust and solar bly elsewhere. still abound, including one
sized crater named Nightin- when Osiris-Rex's 11-foot wind particles, it's never at- "This is all about under- dubbed Mount Doom.
gale — a spot comparable (3.4-meter) arm reaches tempted to sample one of standing our origins," said Then COVID-19 struck.
to a few parking places out and touches Bennu. the nearly 1 million known the mission's principal sci- The team fell behind and
here on Earth. Boulders as Contact should last five asteroids lurking in our solar entist, Dante Lauretta of bumped the second and
big as buildings loom over to 10 seconds, just long system until now. Japan, the University of Arizona. final touch-and-go dress re-
the targeted touchdown enough to shoot out pres- meanwhile, expects to There also are selfish rea- hearsal for the spacecraft
zone. surized nitrogen gas and get samples from asteroid sons for getting to know to August. That pushed the
"So for some perspective, suck up the churned dirt Ryugu in December — in Bennu better. sample grab to October.
the next time you park your and gravel. Programmed the milligrams at most — 10 The solar-orbiting asteroid, "Returning a sample is
car in front of your house in advance, the spacecraft years after bringing back which swings by Earth every hard," said NASA's science
or in front of a coffee shop will operate autonomously specks from asteroid Ito- six years, could take aim at mission chief, Thomas Zur-
and walk inside, think about during the unprecedented kawa. us late in the next century. buchen. "The COVID made
the challenge of navigat- touch-and-go maneuver. Bennu is an asteroid pick- NASA puts the odds of an it even harder."
ing Osiris-Rex into one of With an 18-minute lag in ra- er's paradise. impact at 1-in-2,700. The Osiris-Rex has three bot-
these spots from 200 million dio communication each The big, black, roundish, more scientists know about tles of nitrogen gas, which
miles away," said NASA's way, ground controllers for carbon-rich space rock — potentially menacing as- means it can touch down
deputy project manager spacecraft builder Lock- taller than New York's Em- teroids like Bennu, the safer three times — no more. q
Nokia to build moon’s first 4G cell network for NASA program

work on the moon. week by NASA, which said software and is designed to
The Finnish telecommuni- it was giving the company's withstand harsh launches
cations equipment maker U.S. unit $14.1 million for the and lunar landings and ex-
said Monday its Nokia Bell network. The U.S. space treme conditions in space.
Labs division will build a 4G agency is also funding oth- Nokia is partnering with
communications system to er innovations in cryogenic U.S. company Intuitive Ma-
be deployed on a lunar fluid management, lunar chines, which NASA chose
lander to the moon's sur- surface innovation, and to build a small "hopper
face in late 2022. descent and landing ca- lander" that can access
NASA is awarding $370 mil- pability. lunar craters and carry out
lion to 14 companies to Nokia's network will provide high-resolution surveys of
provide technology for the critical communications the lunar surface over a
Artemis moon-landing pro- capabilities for tasks astro- short distance.
gram. The program's aim nauts will need to carry out, "Reliable, resilient and high-
In this Feb. 11, 2008 file picture, general manager of the Nokia is to establish a long-term like remote control of lunar capacity communications
factory in Romania, John Guerry, casts a shadow on a banner human presence on the rovers, real-time navigation networks will be key to sup-
at the new Nokia factory in Jucu, central Romania, during the
official opening of the first production line. moon as a warm-up for mis- and high-definition video porting sustainable human
Associated Press sions to Mars. streaming, the company presence on the lunar sur-
Nokia released more de- said. face," Nokia's chief tech-
LONDON (AP) — Nokia NASA to build the first cel- tails of its involvement af- The equipment includes a nology officer, Marcus Wel-
says it has been tapped by lular communications net- ter an announcement last base station, antennas and don, said.q