Analysis of OSIRIS-REx Sample Shows Asteroid Bennu Has Ingredients for Life
NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission successfully returned a generous chunk of the asteroid Bennu to Earth in 2023, and scientists have been analyzing it ever since. International scientific teams have published a pair of studies this week highlighting the incredible assortment of materials found in the sample.
Brine From Asteroid Bennu Reveals Conditions Suitable For Life In Early Solar System
REx brought back to Earth 121 grams of material from asteroid Bennu. This is the largest sample ever collected and brought back from a world beyond the Moon. Early analysis last year suggested that this asteroid originated in a water-rich world.
Asteroid Bennu Samples Contain Building Blocks of Life
Samples of Bennu were brought back to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in 2023. Now, a pair of newly published papers reveal that the samples contain precursors to life that formed in a watery environment—a watery environment very similar to the one that prevailed on Earth before life emerged up to four billion years ago.
Asteroid Bennu contains the 'seeds of life,' OSIRIS-REx samples reveal
Scientists have found all five nucelobases alongisde minerals essential for life as we know it on the potentially hazardous asteroid Bennu.
Building Blocks Of Life Found On Asteroid Bennu
Early analysis of asteroid samples from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission show the residue of an icy brine, and a soup of amino acids.
Scientists find life-friendly molecules in NASA’s asteroid samples
Molecules friendly to life have been found in samples of the asteroid Bennu, which NASA collected with a robotic probe five years ago.
Bennu Asteroid Contains Material Needed for Life, NASA Mission Finds
The discovery supports the theory that asteroids seeded life on Earth.
NASA finds ‘key to life’ in Bennu asteroid samples
Rock and dust samples from the Bennu asteroid contain molecules that are the "key to life" on Earth, NASA officials announced on Wednesday.
NASA’s findings from asteroid Bennu suggest solar system could be ‘teeming with the potential for life’
The rocks and dust collected from asteroid Bennu hold amino acids, ammonia and other molecules essential to life on Earth, NASA reported Wednesday. The findings suggest the conditions necessary for life were widespread across the early solar system and boost the odds that life could have developed elsewhere.
The New York Times3d
Lurking Inside an Asteroid: Life’s Ingredients
Scientists studying samples that NASA collected from the asteroid Bennu found a wide assortment of organic molecules that shed light on how life arose. By Carl Zimmer Our solar system contains ...
heise online2d
Asteroid Bennu has all five amino acids for genetic material
Rock samples from the asteroid Bennu inspire scientists. Analyses show that the asteroid not only has minerals that are necessary for life as it exists on Earth. Bennu also contains all five ...
Discover Magazine2d
Basic Building Blocks of Life Found on Asteroid Bennu
A mosaic image of asteroid Bennu, composed of 12 PolyCam images collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from a range of 24 kilometers. (Credit: NASA/Goddard/University ...
USA Today2d
Scientists find a 'next step on a pathway to life' in space
Samples of matter returned from the asteroid Bennu support the theory that asteroids could have brought the building blocks of life to Earth, scientists report in a pair of new studies published ...
CBS News2d
NASA brought back samples from asteroid Bennu. They revealed clues about the possible origins of life.
NASA's Osiris-Rex spacecraft returned 122 grams (4 ounces) of dust and pebbles from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, delivering the sample canister to the Utah desert in 2023 before swooping off ...
CNN2d
Historic asteroid sample reveals the ‘building blocks of life are in fact extraterrestrial in origin,’ scientists say
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Researchers have ...
Phys.org3d
Asteroid Bennu samples found to contain five nitrogenous bases crucial to supporting life
NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission returned 121.6 grams of sample from asteroid (101955) Bennu in September 2023—the largest sample ever returned to Earth. Now, an international team of OSIRIS-REx sample ...