Secrets of life found by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission: Surprising findings from Bennu asteroid sample
building blocks of life.
Asteroid Bennu's Pristine Sample
After a seven-year journey, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully collected and returned a pristine sample of Bennu's regolith. This sample, rich in carbon and nitrogen, was eagerly anticipated by scientists who hoped it would reveal secrets about the solar system's past and the prebiotic chemistry that might have led to life on Earth. An early analysis, published in Meteoritics & Planetary Science on June 26, confirmed the presence of these essential components.
One of the most surprising findings in the Bennu sample is the presence of magnesium-sodium phosphate. This compound, which is water-soluble and crucial for biochemistry, was not detected by remote sensing data collected by the spacecraft at Bennu. The discovery suggests that Bennu could have originated from a long-lost primitive ocean world.
«The presence and state of phosphates, along with other elements and compounds on Bennu, suggest a watery past for the asteroid,» said Dante Lauretta, co-lead author of the paper and principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona, Tucson. «Bennu potentially could have once been part of a wetter world. Although, this hypothesis requires further investigation.»
Interestingly, a similar phosphate was found in the asteroid Ryugu sample returned by JAXA’s Hayabusa2 mission in 2020. However, the magnesium-sodium phosphate in Bennu's sample stands out due to its purity and the size of its grains, which are unprecedented in any meteorite sample.
