NASA reveals the building blocks of life in Asteroid Bennu’s initial sample

SciTechDaily

Scientists also described exceptionally high abundances of ammonia in the Bennu samples.
A Pristine Sample, Untouched by Earth These building blocks for life detected in the Bennu samples have been found before in extraterrestrial rocks.
Life on Earth almost exclusively produces the left-handed variety, but the Bennu samples contain an equal mixture of both.
King, L. P. Keller, M. S. Thompson, S. A. Sandford, R. H. Jones, H. Yurimoto, K. Righter, S. A. Eckley, P. A.
Sun, D. H. Hill, N. G. Lunning, V. E. Hamilton, D. P. Glavin, J. P. Dworkin, H. H. Kaplan, I.

POSITIVE

Samples taken from the asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission revealed essential molecules associated with life, such as amino acids and nucleobases found in DNA and RNA. The existence of formaldehyde and ammonia indicates that the environment is favorable for the formation of complex molecules in space.

A group of evaporite minerals was also found by researchers, suggesting that Bennu formerly had water-rich habitats that might have supported prebiotic chemistry. The mission leaves open the question of why Earth is still the only known host of life, while highlighting the solar system’s widespread potential for life’s building blocks.

Asteroid Bennu’s Secrets: Life-Giving Ingredients?

By returning rock and dust samples from the asteroid Bennu, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security–Regolith Explorer) spacecraft has discovered molecules that are vital to life on Earth. They also discovered evidence of ancient saltwater, which may have been the “broth” that facilitated the interaction of these molecules and their development into more complex compounds.

Although the results do not prove the existence of life, they do imply that the early solar system was favorable for the emergence of life, increasing the likelihood that life could have developed on other planets and moons.

At NASA Headquarters in Washington, Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, stated that the OSIRIS-REx mission is already changing the textbook on our understanding of the solar system’s origins. Bennu’s samples are essential to our comprehension of the components in our solar system that existed prior to the emergence of life on Earth, and asteroids offer a window into the past of our home planet. “”.

The water cycle, plate tectonics, and even life itself have obscured the answers to one of science’s greatest mysteries: the origin of life. Researchers are searching beyond Earth for solutions, focusing on primitive asteroids like Bennu, which is the focus of NASA’s audacious OSIRIS-REx sample return mission. In 2020, OSIRIS-REx collected virgin material from Bennu, which it brought back to Earth in 2023. A lost world from the solar system’s early days, with ideal conditions to support the building blocks of life, is now being revealed by rocks from Bennu. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is credited.

Uncovering the Foundations of Life in Space.

The first detailed analyses of the minerals and molecules in the Bennu samples, which OSIRIS-REx brought to Earth in 2023, were presented by NASA and other scientists in research papers published in the journals Nature and Nature Astronomy.

All five of the nucleobases that life on Earth uses to store and transmit genetic instructions in more complex terrestrial biomolecules, like DNA and RNA, including how to arrange amino acids into proteins, and amino acids, 14 of the 20 that life on Earth uses to make proteins, were among the most captivating discoveries, as described in the Nature Astronomy paper.

Additionally, researchers reported remarkably elevated ammonia concentrations in the Bennu samples. Because ammonia can, under the correct circumstances, react with formaldehyde, which was also found in the samples, to form complex molecules like amino acids, it is significant to biology. Long chains of amino acids combine to form proteins, which power almost all biological processes.

Earth has not touched this pristine sample.

The components of life that were discovered in the Bennu samples have previously been discovered in rocks from other planets. The discovery of them in a pure sample taken in space, however, lends credence to the theory that life in the solar system may have originated from objects that formed far from the Sun.

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

Examining Bennu’s Wet History.

The team led by Sara Russell, a cosmic mineralogist at the Natural History Museum in London, and Tim McCoy, curator of meteorites at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, searched for hints about the environment in which these molecules would have formed while Glavin’s team examined the Bennu samples for signs of life-related compounds. Scientists also present evidence of an ancient environment that was ideal for igniting the chemistry of life in a report published in the journal Nature.

Scientists found traces of 11 minerals in the Bennu sample, ranging from calcite to halite and sylvite. As water containing dissolved salts evaporates over time, the salts remain as solid crystals.

In the solar system, similar brines have been found or hypothesized at locations such as Saturn’s moon Enceladus and the dwarf planet Ceres.

A Whole Set of Minerals Never Seen Before.

Despite the fact that scientists have previously found a number of evaporites in meteorites that fall to the Earth’s surface, they have never observed a full set that preserves an evaporation process that may have lasted for thousands of years or longer. Certain minerals, like trona, which are found in Bennu, were initially identified in samples from other planets.

“These studies help to explain how the elements of life actually came together to create what we see on this aqueously altered asteroid,” McCoy said.

Solving the Mysteries of Left-Handed Bias in Life.

There are still a number of questions despite all the responses the Bennu sample has offered. A pair of left and right hands are examples of how many amino acids can be made in two mirror images. The Bennu samples have an equal amount of both types, but life on Earth almost exclusively produces the left-handed variety. This implies that amino acids might have begun as an equal mixture on early Earth as well. Life “turned left” rather than right, but why is still a mystery.

An Enormous Universe—But Why Just Earth?

Jason Dworkin, a co-lead author on the Nature Astronomy paper and OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA Goddard, stated that OSIRIS-REx has been a very successful mission. A picture of a solar system brimming with the possibility of life is enhanced by significant brushstrokes from OSIRIS-REx data. The most intriguing question is why we have only observed life on Earth thus far. “”.

Learn More: Researchers Discover the Components of DNA in Asteroid Bennu.

Citations:.

Daniel P. reports, “Soluble organic matter rich in nitrogen and abundant ammonia in samples from asteroid (101955) Bennu.”. Glavin Jason P. Conel M. O’D. Dworkin. Alexander, José C. Aponte, Allison A. It was Jessica J. Baczynski. Barnes, Hans A. E. L. Bechtel. Berger, Angela H., Paola Caselli, and Aaron S. Burton. Chung Simon J. Clemett, Jamie E., Gerardo Dominguez, and George D. Dot Cody. Elsila, Kendra K. Dionysis I Farnsworth. It was Katherine H. Foustoukos. Freeman, Heather V., Zack Gainsforth, and Yoshihiro Furukawa. Victoria E., Barbara Michela Giuliano, Tommaso Grassi, and Graham. Hoffman, Amy E., Philipp R. Heck, Pierre Haenecour, and Hamilton. Christopher H. Hofmann. House, Hannah H., and Yongsong Huang. Kaplan, P. Lindsay. Keller, Michael Liss, Hannah L., Toshiki Koga, Bumsoo Kim, and Toshiki Kim. McLain, Matthew A. Timothy J., Mila Matney, and Marcus. McCoy, Hiroshi Naraoka, Ann N., Angel Mojarro, and Ophélie M. McIntosh. Nguyen, Joseph A., and Michel Nuevo. Yasuhiro Oba, Eric T., and Nuth III. Peretyazhko, Tanya S., Parker, Scott A. Ewerton Santos, Danielle N. Sandford, Frederic Seguin, Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin, and Sandford. Simkus, Yoshinori Takano, Kathie L., and Anique Shahid. Havishk Tripathi, Yuke Zheng, Nicole G., Gabriella Weiss, and Thomas-Keprta. Harold C., Kevin Righter, and Lunning. The Connolly Jr. and Dante S. Lauretta, Nature Astronomy, January 29, 2025.

Reference: 10.1038/s41550-024-02472-9.

T. recorded an evaporite sequence from ancient brine in Bennu samples. J. McCoy, S. S. Russell, T. J. . Zega, K. L. . Keprta Thomas, S. A. Singerling, F. E. N. Brenker. C. W. Timms. D. A. J. Rickard. J. . Barnes, G. Libourel, C. S. Ray. Corrigan, M. P. Haenecour, Z. Gainsforth G. A. Dominguez. J. . L. King. P. . Keller, M. D. S. Thompson, S. A. Sandford, R. H. H. Jones. Yurimoto, K. Corrected, S. A. Eckley, P. An A. Bland, M. A. D. N. Marcus. T. DellaGiustina. N. R. Ireland. V. C. Almeida. Harrison, H. Sdot. C. Bates P. F. L. Schofield. B. N. Seifert. Sakamoto N. F. Kawasaki. Jourdan, S. M. Reddy and D. W. Saxey I. J. Ong, B. S. Prince, K. Ishimaru, L. M. C., R. Smith. N. Benner. An A. Kerrison, V., and M. Portail. Guigoz P. M. Zanetta, L. Wardell, R., T. Gooding, T. . R. Rose, T. Salge, L. . Le and V. Tu, M. Z. The Zeszut, C. Mayers X. Sun and D. H. Hill, N. B. Lunning, V. E. Hamilton, D. P. J. Glavin. P. Dworkin, Henry. “H.”. Ikaplan. An A. Franchi K. T. Tachibana, H. Tait, Sdot. C. The Connolly Jr. and D. S. Lauretta, Nature, 29 January 2025.

Publication: 10.1038/s41586-024-08495-6.

In order to investigate and gather samples from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, NASA built the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer) spacecraft. The Marshall Space Flight Center was in charge of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which included the development of OSIRIS-REx, which is managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center. Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, the mission’s principal investigator, is in charge of the science team, data processing, and observation planning.

KinetX Aerospace and NASA Goddard handled navigation, while Lockheed Martin Space built and operated the spacecraft. The Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter and JAXA’s Hayabusa2 asteroid mission are two examples of international partnerships included in the mission. Following the successful retrieval of samples from Bennu, OSIRIS-REx brought them back to Earth for analysis. The samples are being curated at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

scroll to top