Smithsonian Magazine on MSN1d
Scientists Discover Traces of Salt Water and Building Blocks of Life in NASA’s Samples From the Asteroid Bennu
Two new papers describe hints to a brine-filled environment on the 4.5-billion-year-old space rock and the presence of amino ...
NASA's asteroid sample reveals key chemistry that could lead to life
Scientists poring over a sample brought back from the asteroid Bennu have detected amino acids and complex mineral compounds, ...
NASA’s Historic Asteroid Sample Holds Clues to Life’s Origins
The discovery is a capstone achievement for NASA, which went to great lengths to secure and deliver asteroid samples from asteroid Bennu in 2020.
Science News1d
Life’s ingredients have been found in samples from asteroid Bennu
Samples from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission show the asteroid Bennu had organic molecules and minerals and possibly salty water and other life ingredients.
devdiscourse1d
Asteroid Samples Reveal Early Earth's Building Blocks
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft retrieved samples from asteroid Bennu, revealing essential building blocks for life. These include amino acids and nucleobases present in the ancient extraterrestrial rock ...
C&EN1d
Compounds critical to life found on ancient asteroid
The minerals McCoy’s team identified paint a picture of one possible environment present on rocky celestial bodies 4.5 billion years ago. The presence of evaporites means that sodium-rich water once ...