The probe hit this asteroid... and the ground gave way almost without resistance

In October 2020, OSIRIS-REx briefly touched the asteroid Bennu to collect material. The operation must be a controlled contact. But the images show a large displacement of debris, and the measurements reveal something unexpected: the surface offers very little resistance to the arm of the probe.

The analysis published in 2022 describes weakly bound particles and many empty spaces. NASA compares this structure to a pool of small balls. The image helps to understand the weak cohesion; it obviously does not mean that the asteroid is hollow or filled with soft objects.

Without the recoil maneuver, the craft would have continued to sink, according to the scientific team. A surface covered with blocks is not necessarily a solid floor. The probe had come to bring back a sample of rock; its contact also reported a navigation lesson: even when we see the ground very well, we do not yet know how it will carry.