Abundance of Water and Carbon Found in Asteroid Bennu Sample: Evidence for Extraterrestrial Origins of Life

2023-10-14 07:22:04
So far, the researchers have focused their efforts not on the main sample itself, but rather on “additional molecules” that lie above the sampling mechanism. This will be followed by examination of the rest of the sample later. NASA revealed that the sample collected from the 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid Bennu contains an abundance of water and carbon, providing more evidence for the theory that life on Earth came from outer space. This discovery comes following a 7-year journey back and forth to the remote rock as part of the OSIRIS-REx mission, which dropped its precious payload in the Utah desert last month for scientific analysis. OSIRIS-REx was not the first probe to bring asteroid samples for study (NASA) Carbon and water, according to a report published on the “Phys.org” website, Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator, said in a press conference at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where the discovery was made. Of the first images of black dust and gravel, “This is the largest carbon-rich asteroid sample ever returned to Earth.” He said that carbon represented approximately 5% of the total weight of the sample, and was present in organic and mineral forms, while water was trapped within the crystalline structure of the clay minerals. Scientists believe that the reason there are oceans, lakes and rivers on Earth is that it was struck by water-carrying asteroids 4 to 4.5 billion years ago, which made it a habitable planet. Meanwhile, all life on Earth depends on carbon, which forms bonds with other elements to produce proteins and enzymes as well as the building blocks of genetic code, DNA and RNA. These results were reached through preliminary analysis including scanning electron microscopy, X-ray computed tomography, and others. Scientist Daniel Glavin said there is a lot of work to be done and the sample will be shared with laboratories around the world for further study. 250 grams were brought from the Bennu asteroid, while Japanese missions collected only 5.4 grams from the Ryugu asteroid (NASA) Further study OSIRIS-REx was not the first probe to bring asteroid samples for study. Japan succeeded in this feat twice, bringing back celestial dust. In 2010 and 2020. But the amount collected – an estimated 250 grams – was larger than that returned by Japanese missions, as Hayabusa 2 was able to return only 5.4 grams. So far, the researchers have not focused their efforts on the main sample itself, but rather on “additional molecules” that lie above the sampling mechanism. The rest of the sample will be examined later. NASA says it will keep at least 70% of the sample in Houston for future study, a practice that first began in the Apollo era using moon rocks. “The samples are then available for new questions, new technologies, and new tools in the distant future,” said Eileen Stansbury, head of the Astromaterials Research Division at the Johnson Space Center. Additional pieces will be sent for public display at the Smithsonian Institution, Space Center in Houston and the University of Arizona.
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