Asteroid Bennu’s Surprising Surface Revealed by NASA Spacecraft

Near-Earth asteroid Bennu is a rubble pile of rocks and boulders left over from the formation of the solar system. On October 20, 2020, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft briefly touched down on Bennu and collected a sample for return to Earth. During this “TAG event,” the spacecraft’s arm sank far deeper into the asteroid than expected, confirming that Bennu’s surface is incredibly weak. Now, scientists have used data from OSIRIS-REx to revisit the TAG event and better understand how Bennu’s loose upper layers are held together. Read more: Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab/SVS Dan Gallagher (KBRwyle): Producer Jonathan North (KBRwyle): Lead Animator Kel Elkins (USRA): Lead Data Visualizer Alexander Bodnar (AIMM): Animator Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (KBRwyle): Animator Walt Feimer (KBRwyle): Animator Lisa Poje (Freelance): Animator Dan Gallagher (KBRwyle): Narrator Dante Lauretta (The University of Arizona): Lead Scientist Kevin Walsh (SwRI): Scientist Ronald Ballouz (JHUAPL): Scientist Olivier Barnouin (JHUAPL): Scientist Rani Gran (NASA/GSFC): Public Affairs Officer Nancy Neal-Jones (NASA/GSFC): Public Affairs Officer James Tralie (ADNET): Support Ernie Wright (USRA): Support Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET): Technical Support Universal Production Music: “Difficult Conversation” and “Into Motion” by Peter Larsen; “Big Data” by Dominique Dalcan; “Subsurface” by Ben Niblett and Jon Cotton; “Crypto Current” by Dominique Dalcan; “Spaceman” by Rainman This video can be freely shared and downloaded at While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center · Instagram · Twitter · Twitter · Facebook: · Flickr