Bennu Surface Samples Returned By Osiris-REx Contact Pads

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft returned a ‘bulk’ ~122 g sample of regolith particles from the surface down to ~0.5 m in depth from Hokioi crater on (101955) Bennu. The spacecraft’s Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) also included 24 contact pads consisting of stainless-steel Velcro, each ~17 mm in diameter and arranged symmetrically around the circumference of the TAGSAM base. The purpose of the contact pads was to sample Bennu’s uppermost regolith to explore the mineralogical, chemical, and spectroscopic changes resulting from exposure to space weathering. During preliminary examination by the science team, analyses of the particles from a single allocated contact pad revealed space weathered surfaces with microcraters and quenched impact melts deposits. Here we report on the morphology of additional particles from the contact pad analyzed by and particles extracted from a second contact pad, focusing on the space weathering effects they record.