TXST alum shares views of rare NASA asteroid samples with the world

Joseph Aebersold, NAIVA Team Lead.

In 2023, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security Regolith Explorer) mission returned samples of the asteroid Bennu to Earth, making it the first U.S. space mission to accomplish such a feat.

Though few people will ever get to analyze the asteroid samples, scientists across the globe can study high-resolution images of those samples thanks to the work of Texas State University alum Joseph Aebersold, a 2016 geographic information science graduate.

After the mission team recovered the sample return cannister from its landing site in the Utah desert, Aebersold acquired the imagery in his role as a grant specialist with TXST’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs’ (ORSP) Johnson Space Center Engineering & Technical Support (JETS) program. As the team lead for Advanced Imaging and Visualization of Astromaterials (AIVA) at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, he and his colleague Erika Blumenfeld are charged with documenting the samples with high-resolution photography and 3D models before the materials—which range in size from large pebbles to dust—are distributed to eager researchers.

Collection of asteroid rock samples. Photo credit: (NASA/Erika Blumenfeld & Joseph Aebersold)

“We practiced and talked with the curators about what would be valuable for the science team and for posterity, because these samples will never be in these configurations inside the hardware ever again,” Aebersold said. “I do the image science, handle processing and the 3D side as well. We are in the process of doing some 3D models for OSIRIS-REx. I can pretty safely say we won’t be making 3D models of dust, but we've gotten down pretty small. We have done a proof of concept on samples in the order of a millimeter, a millimeter-and-a-half. So that's what we're working toward. That opens up 3D possibilities for most of this collection that came back.”

OSIRIS-REx launch in 2016. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

TXST’s connections to the OSIRIS-REx mission go beyond Aebersold. Eve Berger, Ph.D., a senior research scientist with TXST’s ORSP-JETS, collaborated with the OSIRIS-REx mission in its Sample Organic Analysis working group. She then joined the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at Johnson Space Center full time, where she was a member of the OSIRIS-REx field recovery team during sample return. Christopher Snead, Ph.D., studied rare samples from the asteroid Ryugu provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in exchange for Bennu samples during his time as a senior research scientist with ORSP-JETS. Snead now serves as the NASA JSC ARES sample curator for JAXA’s Hayabusa2 samples and deputy OSIRIS-REx sample curator.

Launched in 2016, OSIRIS-REx rendezvoused with Bennu in 2018 before successfully collecting samples in late 2020. After delivering the samples to Earth, the spacecraft continued on to explore asteroid Apophis under a new mission, OSIRIS-APEX.

Photo credit: (NASA/Erika Blumenfeld & Joseph Aebersold)

Operating in a clean room environment, Aebersold uses a Fuji GFX 100S camera to capture the incredibly detailed images. The GFX was selected for two reasons—it was the only 100-megapixel mirrorless camera available at the time, and it featured built-in focus stacking, which was essential given the enormous magnification and resulting narrow depth-of-field.  

“We can't do the traditional version of image stacking where you physically move the camera,” Aebersold explained. “We have to keep the camera stationary, so we defy all kinds of models and traditional setups with this stuff. We had to invent the process for what we're doing because this has never been done before. It’s like, ‘How are we going to take pictures of asteroid samples that we don’t even know for sure what they look like?’”

The results are impressive. Aebersold doesn’t do sample/science analysis himself—once the samples are photographed and modeled, his team turns over that data to researchers who are eager to tease out every last bit of information.

“One of the craziest things that came out was on our tray photos. Researchers were able to piece together two parts of one sample,” Aebersold said. “They could fit together two of those larger samples—from two different trays—just by the quality of our imagery. The samples didn't end up in the same tray. They weren't next to each other, but the science analysis team was pouring over our images: ‘Oh this piece looks like it could go with this rock.’ So they took a screenshot, matched it up and yep, there's a fracture line. And then they write a paper about it.

“This is the only interaction that some of these people will ever get with a sample, unless they get a piece to analyze themselves. So, they're poring over these images,” he said. “That's why we want to give them these high-quality images.” 

A close-up view of asteroid sample remnants. Photo credit: (NASA/Erika Blumenfeld & Joseph Aebersold)

Aebersold’s journey to NASA began in 2015. He applied for a remote internship with work on NASA’s astronaut photography cataloging program through ORSP-JETS. The JETS program is a multi-organizational partnership that supports and interfaces directly with NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Jacobs Engineering. Aebersold landed that internship, which led to an in-person internship in the summer of 2016 to work with Jacobs Engineering’s Image Science Analysis Group. There he learned to operate a structured light scanner to make 3D models. In 2017 Jacobs hired him to a full-time position, and Aebersold’s career has taken him on a fascinating journey ever since. 

Early on, Aebersold did 3D modeling for NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office, which tracks hazardous space junk that surrounds Earth. He has produced 3D models for NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations, an undersea research station in Florida used to train astronauts and researchers. His 3D modeling of lunar samples from the Apollo missions contributed to the design of tools for use on NASA’s Artemis initiative to return astronauts to the moon. 

Asteroid dust and rock samples from NASA's OSIRIS-Rex mission. Photo credit: (NASA/Erika Blumenfeld & Joseph Aebersold)

“When I was first given this opportunity, I already knew that there weren’t a lot of people that get to go into the labs. I knew I was lucky to be able to see these samples in person,” Aebersold explained. “But then someone told me, ‘Most of the people on the science team and the general public after that—millions, if not billions of people—they are never going to see this stuff in person. They're only going to interact with it through your photos.’

“Bam! I mean, that's a little bit of a mind blow,” he said. “That’s the most meaningful part of it for me. Absolutely. I want to do as best as we can—that’s why we fuss over shadows, reflections and everything that we have to fight in there to deliver the best possible end product that we can. This is the only time these pieces of an asteroid are going to be seen like that ever again.”