NASA OSIRIS-REx Returned Samples From Asteroid Bennu

Samples returned to Earth from asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security-Regolith Explorer) spacecraft probe have been studied and have revealed the presence of molecules that here are key to life.

In addition, they showed a history of saltwater that potentially could serve as a broth to facilitate interactions among the molecules.

The regolith (surface dust and rock) samples do not contain evidence of life itself, but rather the conditions necessary for life, as we know it, could be widely dispersed across the solar system. This suggests a higher probability than previously thought for the existence of life on other planets and moons.

Nicky Fox, Associate Administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington said, "NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission already is rewriting the textbook on what we understand about the beginnings of our solar system. Asteroids provide a time capsule into our home planet’s history, and Bennu’s samples are pivotal in our understanding of what ingredients in our solar system existed before life started on Earth."

Research papers published in the scientific journals Nature and Nature Astronomy shared some of the first in-depth analyses of the Bennu samples that were returned in 2023.

The Nature Astronomy paper reported the presence of 14 of the 20 amino acids that organisms on Earth use to make proteins. Also present were all five of the nucleobases that Earth life uses to store and transmit genetic information in DNA and RNA. Nucleobases are the fundamental units of the genetic code and the mRNA-driven protein-making machinery in cells.

The presence of calcite, halite, and sylvite are clues pointing to the presence of a salty brine that is thought to form the basis of a nutrient-rich medium for the other molecules to form.

Danny Glavin, a senior sample scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and co-lead author of the Nature Astronomy paper explained, “The clues we’re looking for are so minuscule and so easily destroyed or altered from exposure to Earth’s environment. That’s why some of these new discoveries would not be possible without a sample-return mission, meticulous contamination-control measures, and careful curation and storage of this precious material from Bennu.”

FMI:  science.nasa.gov/