What did NASA find in the asteroid sample returned by OSIRIS-REx?

The answer

On September 24, 2023, NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission returned 121.6 grams of material from asteroid Bennu - far exceeding the 60-gram goal. The sample capsule parachuted into the Utah desert after a seven-year, 6.2-billion-kilometer journey. Initial analysis revealed abundant water locked in clay minerals, carbon compounds including amino acids, and the phosphate mineral sodium magnesium phosphate - all essential ingredients for life. The sample contains the highest abundance of carbon ever measured in an extraterrestrial sample. Scientists found that Bennu's material is remarkably similar to a type of meteorite called CI chondrites, the most chemically primitive known solar system material. The findings support the hypothesis that asteroids delivered water and organic molecules to early Earth, potentially seeding the conditions for life's emergence approximately 4 billion years ago.