TAGSAM and Bennu Rehearsing for Sample Collection

TAGSAM and Bennu Rehearsing for Sample Collection

This image shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft’s sampling arm – called the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) – and asteroid Bennu during the mission’s Checkpoint Rehearsal. Sample site Nightingale is visible in the left of the image frame, located in the relatively clear, dark patch. The image was taken by the SamCam camera on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on April 14 from a distance of 230 ft (70 m), which is the closest image of Bennu captured to-date. The field of view is 79 ft (24 m). For reference, the bright, rectangular boulder on the crater’s south rim (lower left) is 7.5 ft (2.3 m) long, which is about the size of a door. The TAGSAM head is 1 ft (0.3 m) wide. When the image was taken, the spacecraft was over the northern hemisphere, pointing SamCam straight down.

Date Taken: April 14, 2020

Instrument Used: OCAMS (SamCam)

Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

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TAGSAM and Bennu Rehearsing for Sample Collection

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