La misión OSIRIS-REx

When Lockheed Martin engineers tested the deployment of OSIRIS-REx's Touch and Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), they used a helium balloon to simulate the microgravity environment the arm would experience in space.

Resembling a vintage car engine's air filter, the sampler head of TAGSAM can hold up to 4.4 pounds of material.

Working like a reverse vacuum cleaner, the sampler head of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft appeared to operate flawlessly collecting material from the surface of asteroid Bennu. NASA awaits confirmation.

Once the OSIRIS-REx team back on Earth confirms a sample has been acquired, TAGSAM's arm will hinge up and deposit the device's head into a sample return capsule. OSIRIS-REx will return the capsule to Earth in 2023.