Asteroid Bennu Carries Most of Building Blocks of Life

An Asteroid Sample Just Changed What We Know About Life in Our Solar System
Two exciting new studies detail the life-supporting contents of a 4.3-ounce sample of the asteroid Bennu. The OSIRIS-REx mission returned to the sample to Earth in September of 2023, and these studies show that it contains amino acids,
Life’s building blocks discovered in asteroid dust
This week, explore what lurks in asteroid dust, marvel at the world’s largest beaded burial, discover an elusive creature photographed for the first time, and more.
The Bennu asteroid reveals clues to how the building blocks of life on Earth may have been seeded
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission returned from space with a sample of an asteroid named Bennu and scientists got to dive into a tale of rock, ice and water that hints at how life could have formed on Earth.
The Asteroid Bennu Has All the Building Blocks of Life
The asteroid Bennu contains all the materials needed for life. This backs up an old hypothesis that the building blocks of life came to Earth on an asteroid.
Are we all aliens? NASA’s returned asteroid samples hold the ingredients of life from a watery world
A NASA spacecraft has returned asteroid samples that hold not only the pristine building blocks for life but also the salty remains of an ancient water world.
Bennu Asteroid Contains Material Needed for Life, NASA Mission Finds
This mineral-rich asteroid might have carried the seeds of life. Planetary scientists have discovered organic matter essential to life in dust and rock retrieved from an asteroid known as Bennu. The finding supports the theory that near-Earth asteroids,
The odds of alien life just increased, NASA says after discovering DNA ingredients on an asteroid
NASA scientists found amino acids, key minerals, and nucleobases for DNA in samples from the OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission. It's a win for alien life.
Asteroid Bennu contains the 'seeds of life,' OSIRIS-REx samples reveal
Scientists have found all five nucelobases alongisde minerals essential for life as we know it on the potentially hazardous asteroid Bennu.
Building blocks of life identified in sample collected from asteroid Bennu
This artist’s concept shows NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descending towards asteroid Bennu to collect a sample of the asteroid’s surface. NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona Scientists studying the sample collected in 2023 from asteroid Bennu have announced a dramatic finding: they have identified the key building blocks of life within the sample.
NASA Confirms Bennu Asteroid Holds Key Buildings Block To Life
A capsule carrying about a half cup of dust and rocks from an ancient asteroid named Bennu landed in the Utah desert in 2023. The samples were collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which sent a probe to rendezvous with Bennu in outer space.
Scientists discover traces of life in NASA asteroid samples
Scientists have discovered traces of organic compounds in asteroid samples brought back by NASA, a finding that could suggest essential building blocks of life were distributed throughout the solar system.
Lurking Inside an Asteroid: Life’s Ingredients
Scientists studying samples that NASA collected from the asteroid Bennu found a wide assortment of organic molecules that ...
The Globe and Mail6d
Salty, water-soaked asteroid reveals pathway to life’s origins
This raises the possibility that the chemistry of life is still under way in places that future missions may be able to access, such as the interior of the largest asteroid, Ceres, or under the ...
New Atlas4d
Asteroid Bennu came from a distant, lost world of salty ponds
Asteroid Bennu seems to have come from a long-lost world on the fringes of the solar system, where saltwater pooled and dried ...
Samples recovered from billions-year-old asteroid could shine light on the start of life on Earth
NASA scientists have discovered organic content in the samples recovered from the asteroid Bennu, which points back to the ...