Los Angeles Times

NASA finally figures out how to open a $1-billion canister

From left, NASA Astromaterials Curator Francis McCubbin, NASA Sample Return Capsule Science Lead Scott Sandford, and University of Arizona OSIRIS-REx Principal Investigator Dante Lauretta, collect science data on Sept. 24, 2023, shortly after the sample return capsule from NASA’ s OSIRIS-REx mission landed at the Department of Defense's Utah Test and...

Late last year, a spacecraft containing samples of a 4.6-billion-year-old asteroid landed safely in the desert after a 1.2-billion mile journey. There was only one little problem: NASA couldn't get the canister containing its prized rocks open.

After months of tinkering, scientists at NASA's Johnson Space Center in

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