NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission returned samples from asteroid Bennu, revealing key insights into the building blocks of life and the potential for life's delivery to early Earth.
Scientists have finally had a close look at the rubble collected by a NASA spacecraft from an asteroid. This sample, gathered from asteroid Bennu, is providing new insights into the building blocks of life that were present in the early solar system and how they might have reached Earth. Bennu, a carbon-rich asteroid, is believed to be a remnant of an ancestral asteroid that formed approximately 4.
5 billion years ago, making it a valuable time capsule for understanding the early solar system's composition. By examining the minerals within the asteroid sample, researchers discovered evidence of ancient salty water pockets or veins. These briny fluids likely contained sodium, chlorides, fluorides, carbonates, and phosphates, essential elements for life. The findings, published in a new study, suggest that Bennu's parent asteroid once hosted conditions conducive to the formation of complex organic molecules.Further analysis revealed the presence of amino acids, including 14 of the 20 used to build proteins in living organisms, along with all five nucleobases, the building blocks of RNA and DNA. This discovery strengthens the theory that asteroids like Bennu played a crucial role in delivering the essential ingredients for life to early Earth and potentially other planets. The asteroid's composition, with its carbon-based molecules forming in salty water, provides a unique glimpse into the conditions that may have existed during the origin of life. Scientists also investigated the distribution of left-handed and right-handed amino acids in the sample, as living organisms primarily utilize the left-handed form. Surprisingly, the Bennu sample contained both forms in roughly equal amounts, challenging the prevailing theory that the early universe was enriched with left-handed molecules. This finding adds another layer of complexity to the ongoing quest to understand the origin of life's chiral preference
Asteroid Bennu NASA OSIRIS-Rex Origin Of Life Amino Acids Nucleobases Early Solar System
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