Nasa’s Bennu asteroid sample contains life-critical water and carbon
- The finding offers yet more evidence for the theory that the foundations for life on Earth were seeded from outer space
- Nasa chose Bennu because they think similar asteroids could have delivered organic building blocks to Earth through collisions billions of years ago
A sample collected from the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu contains abundant water and carbon, both vital materials for the formation of our planet, Nasa revealed on Wednesday.
The finding offers yet more evidence for the theory that the foundations for life on Earth were seeded from outer space.
“The first analysis shows samples that contain abundant water in the form of hydrated clay minerals,” Bill Nelson said in a press event.
“This is the biggest carbon-rich asteroid sample ever returned to Earth,” he said, with the carbon contained in the form of both minerals and organic molecules.
The Osiris-Rex mission collected rock and dust from Bennu in 2020, and a capsule containing the precious cargo successfully returned to Earth a little over two weeks ago, landing in the Utah desert.