These boulders are located next to site Nightingale. Obviously they’re too big to pick up, but there are lots of other smaller rocks here that are sample worthy 👍
I'm 2.3 million miles away, so it takes time for commands to travel between me & Earth. Today, my team on Earth will see events 18.5 mins after they happen here at Bennu. This time lag doesn't allow for live commanding of flight activities, so I'll perform TAG autonomously.
My team has already given me everything I need for today's sample collection event! The final commands for today's activities were uplinked to me on Monday morning, and I received the official GO command this morning.
During the TAG event, I'll transmit data at a very slow rate of 40 bits/sec - 28x less than the data volume of a text message! My team will be able to see how I'm doing, but images & science data will be too large to send. I'll transmit all of the event data to Earth afterwards.
At the very end of the TAGSAM arm is the sample collector head - it's sort of like my hand, and it'll be the only part of me that touches Bennu's surface while gathering a sample.
The collector head is very flexible, and is connected via a hinge-like design so that it can tilt with Bennu's surface. It's also pretty small, measuring 12 inches (30 cm) in diameter - a bit bigger than a dinner plate! 🍽
Once I touch down and the gas disturbs the surface material, some of those rocks and dust will be gathered into the collector head…
Bennu is a rare B-type asteroid (primitive and carbon-rich). It’s made up of organic compounds and water-bearing minerals like clays, and studying samples of its surface material can help us piece together the story of our solar system…
Okay… let's be honest. Microgravity is one thing, but Bennu's surface has definitely been another thing to wrangle. I mean… look at it.
So, next month I'll be navigating into a space that's about 3 parking spaces wide and surrounded by building-sized boulders… talk about tricky.
Getting to this point hasn't been easy, and it's required a lot of perseverance and ingenuity from my team! TAG will be another challenging milestone, but we're ready! #ToBennuAndBack
You might recall from our 1st rehearsal that it takes 16 mins for commands to travel between me and Earth. So my team on Earth sees events 16 mins after they happen here at Bennu. You may also recall that this time lag doesn't allow for live commanding of flight activities.
But my team has already given me everything I need for today's rehearsal! The final commands for today's activites were uplinked to me on Monday morning, and I received the official GO command this morning.
During the rehearsal, I'll transmit data at a very slow rate of 40 bits/sec - 28x less than the data volume of a text message! My team will be able to see how I'm doing, but images & science data will be too large to send. I'll transmit all of the event data to Earth afterwards.
T-7 minutes to orbit departure for the first rehearsal of my Touch-And-Go (TAG) sample collection event. Who’s ready?
I'm ~140 million miles (~230 million km) from Earth, and it takes 13 minutes for any message to travel between us, which means that my team on Earth sees events 13 minutes after they happen here at Bennu. It also means that live commanding of flight activities isn't possible.
So, my team has already given me everything I need for today's rehearsal. Monday morning, the final commands for today's activities were uplinked to me, and this morning I received the command for GO to start the rehearsal.