On Wednesday, NASA disclosed that a sample collected from asteroid Bennu contains a considerable amount of water and carbon. Both of these elements are fundamental to the formation of Earth. This discovery adds further support to the theory that the building blocks for life on our planet may have originated from outer space.
The sample gathered from the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid represents the largest soil sample ever taken from the surface of an asteroid.
The asteroid sample, collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft three years ago, was unveiled at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
This unveiling occurred just over two weeks after the sample successfully made it to Earth by parachuting down in the Utah desert.
During a press event, NASA chief Bill Nelson reported, “The initial analysis shows that the samples contain a significant amount of water in the form of hydrated clay minerals. This is the most extensive carbon-rich asteroid sample ever returned to Earth. The carbon exists in the form of minerals and organic molecules.”
Why is this asteroid sample so significant? This marks only the third asteroid sample, and by far the largest, to return to Earth for analysis. Japan had previously retrieved much smaller asteroid samples through two similar missions.
At the time of its landing, the Bennu sample was estimated to weigh approximately 100 to 250 grams (3.5 to 8.8 ounces).
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