An American spacecraft, OSIRIS-REx, grabs a bit of an asteroid

ON OCTOBER 20THOSIRIS-REOSIRIS-RE an American spacecraft called x played tip and run with Bennu, an asteroid it has been orbiting since December 2018. At 10.12pm Universal Time its three-metre-long sampling arm puffed a blast of nitrogen onto Bennu’s surface. This liberated small pieces of rock, some of which, it is hoped, will have entered the arm’s collection chamber. The aim was to gather at least 60g of material. If that proves not to have happened, then the craft carries enough nitrogen for two more attempts to be made in future months.The plan is that x will return its booty to Earth in September 2023. If all has gone well this will, by then, be the third asteroid sample brought back by a space vehicle. One was delivered in 2010 by , a Japanese probe. A second, now on board ’s successor, , should arrive on December 6th this year.