"How this Spacecraft will sample an asteroid’s rocks, without even landing on it" PBS NewsHour 11/28/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  More than two years after it launched, a spacecraft called OSIRIS-REx is approaching its target, an asteroid named Bennu.  Scientists hope that rock samples from Bennu will provide insight into the likelihood of life on other planets, as well as the risk the asteroid poses to earth.  Science correspondent Miles O'Brien explains the delicate“touch and go” method of sampling the asteroid's surface.