In daring mission, NASA is about to snatch pieces of an asteroid

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.

TAGSAM works like a vacuum cleaner in reverse, puffing out pressurized nitrogen gas that stirs up material on Bennu's surface to capture some in the mechanism.

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.