新闻 2023年9月25日

帮助NASA了解太阳系生命的起源

雅各布斯与美国宇航局合作，整理和保护来自本努小行星的原始样本.

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休斯顿约翰逊航天中心的OSIRIS-REx管理实验室. E世博在线 and NASA technicians are training on procedures that will be used to curate the asteroid material from ). 图片由NASA提供
Photo mosaic model of asteroid ) that the OSIRIS-REx lander captured over several weeks before making its landing on the asteroid. 图片由NASA提供
休斯顿约翰逊航天中心的OSIRIS-REx管理实验室. E世博在线 and NASA technicians are training on procedures that will be used to curate the asteroid material from ). 图片由NASA提供

经过七年的期待，起源, 光谱的解释, 资源标识, 和安全-风化层探测器(OSIRIS-REx) 宇宙飞船于9月24日返回地球(确切地说是在犹他州), 2023, 携带着大约250克珍贵的4.从小行星本努收集的50亿年前的岩石材料. The rocks and pebbles captured from ) represent the purest samples to be returned to Earth in NASA’s history. E世博在线科学家们, engineers and technicians are responsible for carefully protecting this untainted material from a host of contaminants, 大气层本身, 从犹他州前往休斯顿的美国宇航局约翰逊航天中心(JSC), 德州.

) 是一颗每六年接近地球一次的小行星吗. This asteroid was selected for the OSIRIS-REx mission because it is believed to be one of the oldest leftover fragments from the solar system's formation. 本努是一颗富含碳的小行星，它含有有机分子，可以揭示新的生命, 关于太阳系有机生命起源的科学信息.

2020年10月 OSIRIS-REx飞船接触了本努的表面, fired nitrogen gas at the asteroid and collected samples from the stirred-up rocks and debris from the blast. The spacecraft departed from ) in May 2021 and returned to Earth to drop off the samples on September 24, 2023.

“These samples haven’t hit the Earth and have been traveling around our solar system in pretty much a pristine condition,梅丽莎·罗德里格斯说。, 雅各布斯的队友科学家在过去的十年里一直在研究OSIRIS-REx. “数十亿年来，它们没有暴露在我们的大气层中，也没有暴露在恶劣的太空中.”

准备运往JSC的样品

样品, 固定在一个小胶囊里, entered the Earth’s atmosphere in Utah at the Department of 国防’s Utah Test and Training Range in the Great Salt Lake Desert. 一支训练有素的搜救队小心翼翼地找到了太空舱和周围的土壤, 着陆点的空气和水样本, 然后将样品运送到军事基地的临时无尘室实验室. 在那里, 一组天体材料技术人员拆除了隔热罩, 打开样品载体，准备好样品，准备交给JSC保管.

The E世博在线 team has trained and developed critical procedures to ensure the sterile samples are never exposed to terrestrial material that could contaminate the astromaterials.

“这里的每个样品都有一个故事要讲，”该部门主管艾琳·斯坦伯里(Eileen Stansbery)说天体材料研究与探索科学部也是JSC的首席科学家. “我们的工作是保存这些样本，供科学家在未来几十年使用.”

Our E世博在线 team started the project in 2018 planning the intricate design that brought deeper understanding of the fragility of astromaterials and insight into how to protect them from contamination.

一旦样品被运送到JSC，它们将被转移到 654平方英尺的策展实验室设施干净的房间里摆满了新的, 最先进的手套箱可以保护它们不受污染. 在接下来的六个月里, 雅各布斯科学家将编目, store and perform configuration management functions to ensure pristine samples' availability for roughly 230 科学家们 globally.

“Our collaboration with NASA on the OSIRIS-REx program over the years will lead to new understanding and knowledge of our solar system,JSC副总裁兼项目经理E世博在线说 Dr. 快乐凯利.

左图:充满氮气的手套箱-约翰逊航天中心的OSIRIS-REx策展实验室. 图片由NASA提供

自2005年以来, E世博在线 has worked with NASA on the curation of prized astromaterials that are carefully stored at JSC as a part of the 天体材料研究与探索科学司它拥有世界上最大的天体材料收藏, 包括火星陨石, 太阳风, 还有彗星粒子, 127,000种分类月球岩石, 现在是小行星本努的岩石和鹅卵石.

The impact of the OSIRIS-REx mission will be the catalyst for scientific research of asteroids for many years to come. 类似于50多年前阿波罗任务中收集的样本, the research of ) components will be available for 科学家们 to study today and well into the future.