NASA found keys to understanding the origin of life on Earth

2023-10-12 00:14:00

Researchers of the NASA discovered that a sample collected from asteroide Bennu4.5 billion years old, contains abundant water and carbon. According to preliminary studies, this discovery could be essential for understand how the origin of life on Earth developed.

The analyzes could be carried out after the OSIRIS-REx missionseven years long, will return on September 24 to Utah, United States, with a capsule in which He had more than 60 grams of ‘black powder’ from the surface of the space rock.

NASA opened the probe with the sample obtained from the asteroid Bennu and revealed what it found

“This is the carbon-rich asteroid sample largest ever returned to Earth and will help scientists investigate the origins of life on our own planet for generations to come,” said NASA chief Bill Nelson.

At a press event at Johnson Space Center in Houston, where the first images of the ‘black dust’ were revealed, Nelson added: “Initial analysis shows the presence of water and 5% carbon in the weight.”

Bill Nelson, head of the United States NASA.

The important discovery within the Bennu asteroid sample

He carbonwhich represented almost 5% of the total weight of the sample, was present in both organic form as mineralwhile the water was locked inside the crystal structure of the clay minerals of the asteroid fragment.

The findings were made through preliminary analysis that included scanning electron microscopy and X-ray computed tomography.

So far, the researchers have not analyzed the main sample but the “additional particles”described as ‘black powder’ and remains that cover the sample collector. Subsequently, an inspection of the rest of what was obtained will be carried out.

The ‘black dust’ sample obtained from the asteroid Bennu.

When the OSIRIS-REx probe fired nitrogen gas at Bennu to collect its sample, in October 2020, the lid of the collection container was opened with a piece of rock, allowing the ‘black dust’ to enter. In the end, More material arrived on Earth than expected.

Although OSIRIS-REx was not the first probe to encounter an asteroid and bring back samples for study, the amount obtained now, approximately 250 gramsfar surpasses the previous missions.

The failure in the lid of the collecting container allowed more material to enter for analysis.

The key to understanding the origin of life on Earth

One of the main components that allow life on Earth is carbonwhich forms bonds with other elements to produce proteins and enzymes, as well as the building blocks of DNA and RNA.

Likewise, scientists believe that the reason oceans, lakes, and rivers exist on Earth is because it was hit by water-carrying asteroids between 4,000 and 4,500 million years ago, which made it a habitable planet.

That’s why studying space rocks should allow researchers to better understand the formation of the solar system and how Earth became habitable.

The largest sample ever seen of the asteroid Bennu landed in the Utah desert

Bennu is believed to have formed from pieces of a larger asteroid in the asteroid belt, following a massive collision between 1 billion and 2 billion years ago. Asteroids like this could have brought to the planet the compounds that later they allowed the birth of life.

“This is an astrobiologist’s dream,” said Daniel Glavin, senior sample return scientist in the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

In addition, he maintained that there is still a lot of work to do and that the sample will be shared with laboratories around the world for further studies.

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Further studies of the asteroid Bennu

The next analyzes to be carried out will allow obtaining a inventory of minerals observed and perhaps determine its proportion. In particular, scientists believe that Bennu contains hydrated minerals.

In turn, NASA says that will preserve at least 70% of the sample in Houston for future studies, with more advanced technologies, a practice that began in the Apollo era with lunar rocks.

“The samples will then be available for new questions, new techniques, new instrumentation in a distant future“said Eileen Stansbery, head of the astromaterials research division at the Johnson Space Center.

In addition to scientific knowledge, a better understanding of Bennu’s composition could be useful If humanity ever needs to make it go away. While the asteroid has no chance of hitting Earth until the mid-2100s, the chances increase by about 1 in 1,750 between then and the year 2300, NASA says.

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