31 January 2025

Alison Francis

Senior science journalist

NASA/Godard/University of Arizona is a picture of a 500 -meter asteroid line called Pino, which resembles the gray rock that is wider in the middle of each end. It is not smooth - there are different blocks of their surface. NASA/Godard/Arizona University

Benu asteroid is a pile of rocks, rocks and kicks at the level of 500 meters

Chemical blocks of life are found in the dusty dust from a asteroid called Bennu, and it reveals an analysis.

Samples of the space rock, which are dried by NASA spacecraft and brought to Earth, contain a rich group of minerals and thousands of organic compounds.

These include amino acids, which are molecules that make up proteins, as well as ne nioticops – the basic components of the DNA.

This does not mean that there is a life ever on Bennu, but it supports the theory that asteroids handed over these vital ingredients to Earth when they were shattered on our planet billions of years ago.

Scientists believe that these compounds themselves could have been transferred to other worlds in our solar system.

“What we learned from him is amazing,” said Professor Sarah Russell, the capital of cosmic minerals from the London Museum of London.

“He tells us about our origins, and we can answer these really big questions about the place where life began. Who does not want to know how life started?”

The results are published in two papers in Nature.

NASA/Erika Bloomnefeld/Joseph Apberold NASA capsule looks like an alloy wheel containing a black dust sample of the asteroid in a central section. The sample is similar to coal dust of different sizes of black rock fragments. There are also a number of screws that have a capsule cover in place. NASA/Erika Bloomnefield/Joseph Apberold

Bennu granules contain a wide range of organic molecules

The seizure of some Bennu was one of the most bold missions that NASA has ever tried.

A spacecraft called Osiris Rex launched an automatic arm to collect some of the 500 -meter space rocks, before filling it in a capsule and returning it to Earth in 2023.

About 120 grams of black dust was collected and shared with scientists all over the world. This may not seem like many materials, but it is proven that it is a treasure.

“Every pill tells us something new about Pino,” said Professor Russell, who was studying small spots.

About a teaspoon of asteroid was sent to scientists in the UK.

Tobias Salge, an online microscope, shows different minerals in a small sample of Bennu. Various metals appear in different colors. There are large orange areas against the background of deep blue, and on the smaller bright green areas, most of which are in a line on the left of the image. Blocks of the smaller points of turquoise can also be seen. Natural History Museum/Tobias Sell

Electronic scanning of the minerals revealed the minerals in the Bennu sample

The new research showed that the space rock is full of nitrogen and carbon -rich vehicles.

These include 14 of the 20 amino acids that life uses on Earth to build proteins and all four particles in the form of a loop that forms DNA – Adenin, ganagan, cytozine and themes.

The study also found a group of minerals and salts, indicating the presence of water once on the asteroid. Ammonia, which is important for biochemical reactions, was also discovered in the sample.

Some of these compounds were seen in the space rocks that fell on Earth, but some have not been discovered yet.

Professor Russell said: “It is incredible how rich is. It is full of these minerals that we have not seen before in meteorites and the mixture of them did not see it before. It was exciting to study.”

This last study adds to increasing evidence that asteroids brought water and organic materials to the Earth.

“The early solar system was really troubled and there were millions of asteroids like Bennu flying,” said Dr. Ashley King of the Natural History Museum.

The idea is that these people bombed the young earth, and the seed of our planet with the components that gave us the oceans and made life possible.

But the Earth was not the only world hit by space rocks. Asteroids could have been collided with other planets as well.

Dr. King said: “The earth is unique, as it is the only place where we have found life until now, but we know that the asteroids were providing these ingredients, carbon and water, throughout the solar system.”

And one of the big things that we try to understand now is, if you have the right conditions, then why do we have a life here on Earth – and can we find them elsewhere in our solar system? “

It is a major question that scientists will continue to try to answer.

They have contracts for upcoming research on the dust that was brought from Bennu, and parts of our cosmic life are still exploring.

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