The US space agency and scientists say samples taken from Bennu contain abundant water, carbon and iron minerals.
The US space agency NASA has found that samples of material taken from the surface of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu contain abundant water and carbon, supporting the theory that life on Earth was seeded from space. He announced that he would provide further evidence.
The findings were announced Wednesday and were discovered by NASA inside a sealed capsule that scientists returned to Earth last month with the Osiris-Rex spacecraft carrying material taken from the surface of a 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid. I got my first glimpse of things. .
At a press event at Johnson Space Center in Houston, where the first images of black dust and pebbles were released, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, “This is the largest carbon-rich species ever brought back to Earth.” This is an asteroid sample containing
Carbon made up nearly 5 percent of the sample’s total weight and was present in both organic and mineral forms, Nelson said, while water was trapped within the crystalline structure of the clay mineral.
The discovery was made through preliminary analysis, including scanning samples using electron microscopy and X-ray computed tomography.
Preliminary results indicate that further discoveries may be made to support the hypothesis that early Earth was seeded with the primordial ingredients of life by comets, asteroids, meteorites, and other celestial bodies that impacted the early Earth.
“The secrets hidden in the asteroid’s rocks and dust will be studied for decades to come, revealing how the solar system formed, how the precursor material for life was seeded on Earth, and how It will give insight into what precautions are needed to avoid an asteroid impact on our home planet. ” NASA said in a statement:
A 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid sample brought back to Earth has found more carbon and richer water than expected. #Osiris Rex. Combining the two, the building blocks for life on Earth may be trapped within these rocks. https://t.co/IY6QfXXqeT pic.twitter.com/olxjDQG6bm
— NASA (@NASA) October 11, 2023
“This is an astrobiologist’s dream,” said NASA senior scientist Daniel Glavin. Initial analysis showed the material appeared to be “high in organic matter,” he said.
The initial discovery was the result of the OSIRIS-REX spacecraft making seven-year trips to Bennu’s surface and dropping samples into a sealed capsule before parachuting back to Earth last month.
Osiris-Rex was launched in 2016, arrived at Bennu in 2018, and continued orbiting the asteroid for about two years until it had enough space to collect samples of loose material on the surface with a robotic arm in October 2020. I got as close as I could.
No one was able to see the samples in person at Wednesday’s event, only photos and videos. The asteroid debris is stored behind a locked door in the space center’s new laboratory, accessible only by scientists wearing protective gear.
Images of the sample displayed showed loose clumps of small, charcoal-colored stones, pebbles, and dust left behind on the outer portion of the spacecraft’s sample storage container. Technicians are still carefully disassembling the canister containing most of the specimen, a process expected to take another two weeks.
But Dante Lauretta, lead researcher at the University of Arizona, said a “bonus” sample of the overflow material was immediately tested. What the scientists discovered was a substance rich in carbon, which is about 5 percent by weight of an element essential for all life on Earth, and water molecules trapped in the crystalline structure of the clay fibers, Lauretta said. he said.
Scientists also discovered iron minerals in the form of iron sulfides and iron oxides, “which themselves indicate that they formed in a water-rich environment,” Lauretta said at a later press conference. Ta.
The asteroid Bennu, discovered in 1999, is a relatively loose mass of rock held together by gravity, scientists say, like a pile of rubble. It is approximately 500 meters (0.3 miles) in diameter.
Like other asteroids, Bennu is a relic of the early solar system. Because their current chemistry and mineralogy have remained largely unchanged since their formation, they hold clues about the origin and development of rocky planets like Earth, and could be the focus of astrobiology research.
Over the next few months, the entire asteroid sample will be divided into smaller specimens and pledged to about 200 scientists at 60 laboratories around the world.
