Nasa has unveiled the results of their OSIRIS-REx mission, which uncovered water, carbon, and other compounds that may have seeded life on Earth.
The spacecraft recently returned from a mission to Bennu, a so-called ‘near-Earth’ asteroid about 75million miles away.
OSIRIS-REx was launched in 2016, and began its return flight to earth in 2021 after collecting a sample of material from the asteroid.
Carbonaceous asteroids like Bennu are leftover material from the early days of formation of the Solar System, and potentially hold the ‘building blocks of life’ on our own planet.
Speaking at a conference at Nasa’s headquarters in Houston, Texas, the space agency unveiled the first photos of the asteroid sample as well as their incredible preliminary findings.
The new sample ‘will help scientists investigate the origins of life on our own planet for generations to come,’ said Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson.
Nelson praised the Nasa scientists who brought the OSIRIS-REx craft down in Utah last month, calling it a ‘picture-perfect mission’ and a ‘feat of engineering.’
Nelson then unveiled never before seen photos of the sample collected by the spacecraft, which appeared like dark rocks and fine, black dust particles.
Analysis showed that the rocks contained carbon, minerals, organic molecules, and ‘abundant water in the form of hydrated clay minerals,’ Nelson said.
The entire sample is about 5% carbon.
‘Far exceeding our goal of 60 grams, this is the biggest carbon-rich asteroid sample ever return to Earth,’ Nelson said. ‘The carbon and water molecules are exactly the kinds of material that we wanted to find.’
Using an electron microscope, Nasa scientists were able to determine the rocks brought back from Bennu contained what might be the ‘building blocks of life on Earth.’
‘They have water locked inside their crystal structure,’ said Dr Dante Lauretta, the OSIRIS-REx principal investigator. ‘That water – that is how we think water got to the earth.’
Lauretta also showed photos of sulfides, which he called ‘critical for biology,’ as well as iron oxide molecules that might be important for organic evolution.
Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.
Get your need-to-know
latest news, feel-good stories, analysis and more
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
