Briny Residue Scooped From Asteroid Bennu Holds Clues to Life’s Cosmic Origins

Asteroid Bennu not solely held water in some unspecified time in the future in its distant previous but in addition accommodates briny residue that harbors a number of the essential constructing blocks for all times, in response to a staff of scientists that studied samples of the house rock.

The brine accommodates compounds which have by no means been beforehand noticed in asteroid samples, together with compounds of sodium carbonate. The brine may also be distinguished from brine samples on Earth, as it’s a lot richer in phosphorus—a component ample on asteroids however unusual on Earth. The staff’s findings shake up the story of Bennu, whose rocky bits have been valiantly collected by NASA in 2020, and trace on the methods life might have taken root from the chemical cocktail of the cosmos.

Two research printed immediately in Nature and Nature Astronomy reveal a number of the first analyses completed of the Bennu samples. The papers describe briny residue discovered within the samples, which differs from the composition of Earth’s brines, in addition to protein-building amino acids and the 5 nucleobases that kind the constructing blocks of RNA and DNA. In different phrases, the pattern accommodates a wealth of fabric displaying that vital components for all times as we all know it exist on an area rock roughly the identical age as Earth. The one factor lacking, it might appear, have been little inexperienced males.

The OSIRIS-REx mission scooped the samples from Bennu when the asteroid was about 200 million miles (322 million kilometers) from Earth. NASA efficiently introduced the samples to Earth’s floor and—after some difficulties—opened the canister containing the rocky bits.

The OSIRIS-REx staff collected more than twice the quantity of asteroid materials they’d initially hoped to collect (4.29 ounces, or 121.6 grams), which means that scientists have loads to work with as they search to decipher the historical past of our photo voltaic system and the origins of life itself.

“We now know from Bennu that the uncooked components of life have been combining in actually attention-grabbing and sophisticated methods on Bennu’s dad or mum physique,” mentioned Tim McCoy, the curator of meteorities on the Smithsonian’s Nationwide Museum of Pure Historical past, and co-lead writer on the Nature paper, in a Smithsonian release. “We’ve found that subsequent step on a pathway to life.”

When asteroids enter Earth’s ambiance, they bear excessive circumstances, and after they land, the house rocks are inevitably coated in Earth’s personal chemical cocktail. Bennu’s samples are particularly helpful as a result of the asteroid will not be tainted by Earth’s chemistry, much like the samples collected from asteroid Ryugu throughout the Hayabusa2 mission.

Bennu is definitely a broken-off chunk of a bigger asteroid that’s about 4.5 billion years previous—roughly the identical age as our photo voltaic system. That asteroid in all probability contained pockets of liquid water, scientists imagine, and the latest proof of brine on Bennu appears to affirm that idea.

Because the sodium-rich water on Bennu evaporated, it left behind crusty mineral residue. The water is lengthy gone, however the briny crud—minerals wealthy in sodium, carbon, sulfur, phosphorus, chlorine, and fluorine—stay.

The scientists who scrutinized the samples counsel that brines like these discovered within the asteroid bits in all probability additionally exist on different our bodies in our photo voltaic system, together with Saturn’s moon Enceladus and the dwarf planet Ceres. Enceladus is an exciting venue for astrobiology—the seek for extraterrestrial life—as a result of it’s thought to harbor a subsurface ocean of liquid water and has been caught spitting up different components for all times, together with hydrogen cyanide and phosphorus.

In 2023, astrobiologists instructed Gizmodo simply how significant the Bennu samples may very well be for understanding the constructing blocks of life and the way water arrived on our primordial world. The brand new findings add promise and intrigue to that hype.

“That is the type of discovering you hope you’re going to make on a mission,” McCoy mentioned. “We discovered one thing we didn’t count on, and that’s the very best reward for any type of exploration.”

The wealth of samples taken from Bennu—once more, almost double what scientists had deliberate for—will proceed to supply helpful insights into the historical past of our photo voltaic system and the distribution of key components for all times inside it. To this point, the samples are delivering on the promise that made OSIRIS-REx such a compelling mission, and our understanding of the cosmos is all the higher for it.