The University of Arizona-led space mission to retrieve a sample from an asteroid endured a tense day that turned out to be a blessing. On Tuesday Oct. 20, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft touched down on the asteroid Bennu more than 200 million miles away to capture some of the rocks and dust on its surface. While the spacecraft successfully touched down and backed away, scientists soon realized the spacecraft’s sample collection compartment was overflowing with material., and some of the captured sample was slipping back into space.

“This turned out to be great news,” said OSIRIS-REx project manager Rich Burns. “But we knew we had to adapt our plans, because this definitely wasn’t something we planned for.”

Because there was an “abundant sample” and some was slipping out, the mission team quickly worked to stow away the collector head, a process that took two days, with preparations for the stowage event beginning Oct. 24. This loss of material required the team to redesign the timeline of their stowage process, which was originally slated for November.

According to the university, the process to stow the sample is unique compared to other spacecraft operations and required the team's continuous oversight and input over the two-day period. For the spacecraft to proceed with each step in the stowage sequence, the team had to assess images from the previous steps to confirm the operation was successful and the spacecraft was ready to continue. Because of the spacecraft’s distance there was roughly a 20-minute delay to receive messages and images. Ultimately, the team announced they were successful in stowing away the sample.

Agreements with NASA required the spacecraft to collect at least roughly 60 grams of material from the asteroid's surface — if that much was not collected, the team would have to try again. And although the collection compartment lost “tens of grams” worth of material, the OSIRIS-REx team estimates the spacecraft currently holds at least 400 grams worth of material. Because the images returned from the spacecraft only show a portion of the collection compartment, more than a kilogram of material may be captured, but we’ll have to wait until 2023 when the spacecraft returns to Earth to know for sure.

Data from the spacecraft also indicated that the sampling arm penetrated the asteroid’s rocky surface as deep as 48 centimeters. Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator and a professor of planetary sciences at UA, says it is likely some of the material captured is from that deep within the asteroid.

If successful, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will be the first American space mission to return a sample of an asteroid back to Earth. With the sample, scientists hope to better understand the formation of our solar system, and possibly even the origins of life on Earth.

Because the collected samples will be limited, Betsy Cantwell, UA’s senior vice president for research and innovation, says a major decision will be figuring out who gets to work with them. Cantwell expects a portion of the material will be investigated at UA, and some will even be stored for posterity to be examined when even more advanced scientific sensors are available in the future.

“Even though my heart breaks for the loss of sample, it turned out to be a pretty cool science experiment, and we’re learning a lot about how these particles behave in microgravity,” Lauretta said. “I'm very thankful that our team worked so hard to get this sample stowed as quickly as they did... Now, we can look forward to receiving the sample here on Earth and opening up that capsule."

Gov. Doug Ducey and Arizona Department of Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ provided a COVID-19 update at a press conference today amid rising cases throughout the state.

On Oct. 29, the Arizona Department of Health Services reported 1,315 new COVID-19 cases throughout the state, with a percent positivity of 9.7%.

Pima County reported 105 new COVID-19 cases today and now has recorded 28,067 of Arizona’s 242,480 total positive cases.

“The recent increase in cases has resulted in an increase in the COVID-19 rates in many counties,” Christ said at the press conference. “At the Arizona Department of Health Services, we remain on high alert. We’ve worked to contain COVID-19 from all angles, and we continue to take further action in light of recent increases.”

Although Ducey acknowledged Arizona’s rising coronavirus numbers, he said in comparison to other states, “we’re not in that zone that we’re seeing in other places.”

“We do see this rising in different parts of the country, our expectation in Arizona has been that cases would continue to go up,” he said.

The governor recognized that the state’s current R naught number, which indicates how contagious a virus is, is currently at 1.16, which means coronavirus is spreading as fast as it did in June.

“Arizona did one of the best jobs in the nation when our time of challenge did come of driving it beneath one, but as we head into influenza season it becomes more challenging,” Ducey said.

Although the current rise in COVID-19 cases is alarming, Ducey said there’s even more to come.

“We know that there is a storm ahead of us, yet it’s not here,” Ducey said. “But those simple guidelines of wearing a mask, washing our hands, being socially distanced and using common sense have served us very well to date.”

However, the governor doesn’t plan on imposing new safety restrictions to prevent further spread of COVID-19.

“The mitigation that we’ve put out, the plan we put into effect remains in effect. I am proud that Arizona is open, that our economy is open, that our educational institutions are open and our tourist destinations are open,” Ducey said. “While at the same time, we do have mitigation steps in place that have allowed us to protect lives while protecting livelihoods, and we’re gonna continue to do that.”

Given the likelihood of travel and large gatherings, Christ says she anticipates seeing a spike 10-14 days after Thanksgiving that could potentially increase over the next 4-6 weeks.

In preparation for the holiday season, she said ADHS will be putting out guidance, working on mitigation strategies and making sure hospitals have enough resources, although she said the biggest barrier for hospitals is not “the beds, but could be the staffing.”

Christ urged citizens to continue mitigation tactics such as wearing a mask, maintaining social distancing and getting an influenza shot.

“We understand that this has been a difficult year, and many have grown tired of the mitigation strategies. But now is not the time to let up,” she said.

When asked about the example he’s setting for Arizonans after repeatedly attending public events sans-mask, including at a Trump rally at the Prescott Regional Airport Oct. 19 and as he spoke at today’s press conference, Ducey called upon the First Amendment.

“We’ve been consistent the entire time through the pandemic to protect people’s rights under the Constitution,” Ducey said. “There are five days left in the election cycle and we’ll continue to protect people’s rights.”