Originally published at Southern Cross
VATICAN CITY — Jesuit Brother Bob Macke, a Vatican astronomer and meteorite expert, has built a custom device for studying material from the first U.S. mission to collect a sample from an asteroid.
The unmanned spacecraft, Osiris-Rex was launched in 2016 to collect samples on the near-Earth asteroid, Bennu.
After collecting about a cup of material in 2020, the spacecraft is now approaching Earth and, before it continues its space voyage to orbit the Sun, it is due to release its cargo to send the sample back to Earth Sept. 24.
Because of Brother Macke’s known expertise in the field, Andrew Ryan, the lead of the mission’s sample analysis working group, asked him if he could build the device needed to analyze the density and porosity of the samples to help identify the mysterious rocks on the asteroid’s surface, according to Mashable.com Sept. 16.
NASA had strict requirements for this device, called a pycnometer, and the companies Ryan contacted were only willing to sell what they had in stock, not do a custom build, he told Mashable.
Brother Macke, however, was game and he posted his progress and success with a number of videos on his YouTube channel, Macke MakerSpace.
