Preliminary studies of samples from the 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid Bennu show evidence of water and high carbon content, which NASA says could be “an indication that the building blocks of life on Earth are found on the rock.” . On September 24, a capsule that had completed a 6.2 billion kilometer galactic journey to the asteroid Bennu and back to Earth landed with great precision in the Utah desert. The capsule carried by the Osiris-Rex probe lifted more than 60 grams of “dark dust” from the surface of this 500-meter-long space rock, which is the most threatening to Earth and holds secrets about the origin of our galaxy neighborhood, as explained by NASA.
During these two weeks, scientists conducted a rapid analysis to gain an initial understanding of the material from Bennu, the third asteroid from which samples were collected and brought to Earth. In a sensational presentation in Houston, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said: “It is the largest carbon-rich asteroid sample ever sent to Earth and will help scientists study the origins of life on our own planet for future generations. “ “The initial analysis shows the presence of water and organic molecules in the clay. 5% by weight carbon. Carbon and water molecules are essential for life,” Nelson listed.
During these first two weeks, scientists took a “brief look” at the source material, NASA explains, which provided evidence of these elements in the sample. “As we contemplate the ancient secrets preserved in the dust and rocks of asteroid Bennu, we are unlocking a time capsule that offers us deep insights into the origins of our solar system,” said Osiris-Rex principal investigator Dante Lauretta at the University of Arizona, Tucson .
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“The abundance of carbon-rich material and the abundant presence of clay minerals in the aquifer are just the tip of the cosmic iceberg. “These discoveries, made possible through years of dedicated collaboration and cutting-edge science, are propelling us on a journey to understand not only our celestial neighborhood but also the potential for life to begin,” Lauretta added. “With each revelation of Bennu, we come closer to solving the mysteries of our cosmic heritage,” he said.
Image of Bennu taken by the “OSIRIS-REx” spacecraft.AP
Once it landed where NASA planned, technicians transported the artifact to the Johnson Space Center in Houston to handle it with the utmost care and avoid contamination. Once in the laboratory, the specialists managed to open the lid, but with many more problems than planned: it was slower than expected because the sample of space sand ran over the container. The abundance of material found when the scientific container’s lid was removed forced them to be particularly diligent, according to the agency, which revealed that it contained 250 grams of material.
Until now, five grams of sand extracted from the asteroid Ryugu was considered the oldest accessible material in the solar system, dating back 4.5 billion years, thanks to Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft mission. This capsule returned to Earth in 2020 and its analysis showed that it carried uracil, one of the four letters of RNA, the molecule essential to life. This proved that this compound exists in space and strengthened the hypothesis that organic molecules in asteroids and comets contributed to Earth’s prebiotic evolution. It took the Japanese three years to publish this result of their research.
Opening the lid of the capsule containing samples of the asteroid OSIRIS-REx in the laboratory of the NASA Johnson Space Center.ROBERT MARKOWITZ NASA-JSC
Asteroids are, in a sense, time capsules. They are considered fossils of the solar system and are key to understanding the formation of our planetary neighbors. They are even being studied to analyze whether they were the origin of water and even life that arose on Earth. It is believed that these astronauts were able to transport both seawater and bricks using the first organic compounds.
The first part of the round-trip mission was completed by reaching the asteroid Bennu, which orbits the Sun between Mars and Earth, when it was more than 300 million kilometers from Earth. There he collected this handful of dust, some of which will remain unexplored and available to future scientists. According to NASA, Bennu’s crossing of Earth on September 24, 2182 would have an impact risk of one in 2,700.
This NASA project is the third to bring remnants of an asteroid to Earth, following the Japanese probes Hayabusa 1 and 2 in 2010 and 2020, respectively. In 2005, Hayabusa 1 received some particles from the asteroid Itokawa and returned in 2010 after a bumpy five-year return. The improved version of this probe, Hayabusa 2, collected these five grams of Ryugu. Now Osiris-Rex multiplies this amount by more than 10. Meanwhile, the Osiris-Rex probe is already preparing its next mission to hit the asteroid Apophis, which will fly past Earth in 2029, just 30,000 kilometers away.
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