NASA | Playing Tag With an Asteroid

What's the best way get a sample of an asteroid? Play tag with it! That's the plan for OSIRIS-REx, a NASA spacecraft that will approach the asteroid Bennu in 2018. The collection will be done with an instrument on board called the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism, or, TAGSAM. Learn how it works in this video.

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[MiguelAbd]

That is why i love NASA, a simple solution for an incredibly hard task

[johng.wolbach]

Thanks for including closed captioning so I can share this at my library!

[williamfierro]

NASA is amazing! i love science and especially astronomical science.
  

[Nathanlmonk]

Landon Kruger, the mass of an object never changes unless you loose loose a body part or get fatter or skinnier. But weight can change. If you go on the moon, you weigh less but your mass stays the same

[jdgrahamo]

Here's an idea -- make your videos in a room that doesn't have a band playing, that way we might be able to here what you're saying.

[theandonlypof]

Would it be realistic to send the sample return capsule to ISS instead of directly to Earth? Or would the fuel expenditure outweigh the money and weight savings of not having a heat shield?

[TheMohawkNinja]

I'm going to guess that the burst of nitrogen is much smaller than anything that would create any sort of significant reaction force that might push the space craft away from the asteroid.

[landonkryger]

2:05 "After the spacecraft measures the mass of the sample..."

How do you measure the mass of something when you're in an incredibly weak gravitational field?

[lightsidemaster]

The music was kinda overly annoying, though.

[truvelocity]

I'm dancing to this song right now.  Am I being immature?

[williamfierro]

NASA: how do we get a sample of an asteroid?
NASA: WE PLAY TAG! lol

 

[Bobbossa]

Time to go punch some asteroids! For science!

[fpsMrPlague]

I hope the asteroid doesn't come back to tag us :(

[fabsfabsfabs]

One person does not like to play tag :p

[OscarMaris]

Insted of playin kids games like tag in space why dont you get us some welfare so we can feed our kids!!!

[gonzaloglz]

Cheesy graphics. Crappy music. What a waste of good info

[Nathanlmonk]

Landon Kruger, the mass of an object never changes unless you loose loose a body part or get fatter or skinnier. But weight can change. If you go on the moon, you weigh less but your mass stays the same