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TAGSAM or Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism is a robotic arm on the
*October 17, 2018 — TAGSAM head cover jettisoned
*October 25, 2018 — Frangibolts fired, releasing the TAGSAM arm
*November 14, 2018 — TAGSAM arm fully extended for the first time
*April 15, 2020 — rehearsal manouvre performed by
TAGSAM SchematicTAGSAM Testing Complete: OSIRIS-REx Prepared to TAG an AsteroidAnimation of TAGSAM head cover being jettisoned
OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft instruments
TAGSAM or Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism is a robotic arm on the OSIRIS-REx
OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) is a NASA asteroid-study and sample-return mission. The mission's primary goal is to obtain a sample of at least from 101955 Bennu, a carbonac ...
space probe for collecting a sample from asteroid 101955 Bennu
101955 Bennu (provisional designation ) is a carbonaceous asteroid in the Apollo group discovered by the LINEAR Project on 11 September 1999. It is a potentially hazardous object that is listed on the Sentry Risk Table and has the highest cumula ...
. OSIRIS-REx was launched in 2016, and arriving at the asteroid in December 2018 with plans to study the asteroid and return samples to Earth by 2023.
Overview
TAGSAM is a robotic arm attached to the main body of the spacecraft that collects a sample from the asteroid, and puts the samples into the Earth return vehicle. Bennu is about 500 meters in diameter and has very low gravity, so the arm must perform the collection in near zero gravity, yet still contend with some gravitational forces from the asteroid. One issue with small asteroids is their unique gravitational environment, and Bennu became the smallest body orbited by a spacecraft. TAGSAM is designed to take up to three samples from the asteroid. The collection head is filled using anitrogen
Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...
gas injection that stirs up the regolith
Regolith () is a blanket of unconsolidated, loose, heterogeneous superficial deposits covering solid rock. It includes dust, broken rocks, and other related materials and is present on Earth, the Moon, Mars, some asteroids, and other terrestria ...
. The arm is about 11 feet (3.35 meters) long, and has three joints for articulation on it. SamCam will acquire images of the collection head. Two major parts of TAGSAM are the robotic arm and the sample collection head.
The arm is used in conjunction with several instruments on the spacecraft including three cameras, three spectrometers, and a laser altimeter
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...
.
Two identical TAGSAM units were made, one for use on the spacecraft called the ''flight unit'' and another for testing on Earth called the ''qualification unit''.
Timeline
*October 17, 2018 — TAGSAM head cover jettisoned
*October 25, 2018 — Frangibolts fired, releasing the TAGSAM arm
*November 14, 2018 — TAGSAM arm fully extended for the first time
*April 15, 2020 — rehearsal manouvre performed by OSIRIS-REx
OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) is a NASA asteroid-study and sample-return mission. The mission's primary goal is to obtain a sample of at least from 101955 Bennu, a carbonac ...
*October 20, 2020 – successful TAGSAM deployment and sample collection
See also
*CAESAR
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caes ...
*Robotic arm
A robotic arm is a type of mechanical arm, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm; the arm may be the sum total of the mechanism or may be part of a more complex robot. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints ...
*Sample-return mission
A sample-return mission is a spacecraft mission to collect and return samples from an extraterrestrial location to Earth for analysis. Sample-return missions may bring back merely atoms and molecules or a deposit of complex compounds such as lo ...
References
External links
{{commons, Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM)TAGSAM Schematic
OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft instruments