NASA finds ‘key to life' in Bennu asteroid samples
Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Rock and dust samples from the Bennu asteroid contain molecules that are the "key to life" on Earth, NASA officials announced on Wednesday.
The samples were gathered by NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security-Regolith Explorer spacecraft called OSIRIS-REx, NASA officials said in a press release.
The samples collected from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft show those ingredients include several molecules and saltwater that created a kind of "broth" in which the molecules and other compounds could interact and combine to create new lifeforms on Earth and in its solar system.
"NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission already is rewriting the textbook on what we understand about the beginnings of our solar system," said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
"Asteroids provide a time capsule into our home planet's history," Fox said. "Bennu's samples are pivotal in our understanding of what ingredients in our solar system existed before life started on Earth."
The journals Nature and Nature Astronomy on Wednesday published research papers written by NASA scientists and others in which 14 of 20 amino acids that life on Earth uses to create proteins were found in the samples collected from the Bennu asteroid in 2020 and delivered to Earth three years later.
The scientists also discovered all five nucleobases that enable life on Earth to store and transmit genetic signals to biomolecules, like DNA and RNA, and convert amino acids into protein.
They also found high amounts of ammonia in the samples, which can create complex molecules when the ammonia reacts with formaldehyde under the right conditions.
They also can lead to the creation of amino acids and other complex molecules that create proteins and can support most biological functions.
The scientists also found traces of calcite, halite, sylvite and other minerals capable of supporting life.
The NASA scientists are hoping to find the origins of life in the solar system and on Earth by studying the rock and dust samples from the Bennu asteroid and other cosmic sources.
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