What did NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission bring back from asteroid Bennu?
A handful of rock from a 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid contains amino acids, water minerals, and the building blocks of life - older than Earth itself.
The answer
On September 24, 2023, NASA's OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer) mission returned 121.6 grams of pristine material from asteroid Bennu to Earth after a 7-year, 6.2-billion-kilometer round trip. The sample capsule parachuted into the Utah desert. Analysis revealed extraordinary findings: the sample contains 4.7% carbon by weight (the highest measured in any extraterrestrial sample), 14 of the 20 amino acids used by life on Earth, abundant water locked in clay minerals, and the phosphate mineral sodium magnesium phosphate - all essential ingredients for life. The material dates to the solar system's earliest formation approximately 4.5 billion years ago, predating Earth. The findings strongly support the theory that asteroids delivered water and organic molecules to early Earth, seeding the conditions for life's emergence. Scientists will continue studying portions of the sample for decades, with some reserved for future generations with more advanced analytical technology.
Source: NASA
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- asteroid-bennu
- sample-return
- astrobiology
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