Asteroid samples may contain the seeds of life.

US NASA has revealed the first test results of samples brought back to Earth by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which successfully collected soil and rocks from a distant asteroid.

Samples of soil and rocks taken from the asteroid Bennu. Photo: NASA — Samples of soil and rocks taken from the asteroid Bennu. Photo: *NASA*

A sample of rock fragments weighing 100-250 grams, taken from the surface of asteroid Bennu, contains water and carbon, scientists announced at a press conference at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on October 11. NASA scientists announced the sample two weeks after the spacecraft returned to Earth at a speed of 43,000 km/h on September 24. After a round-trip journey of 6.4 million kilometers over seven years, the spacecraft deployed its parachutes and landed safely in the Utah desert before being transported to the Johnson Space Center, where scientists began analyzing its composition in search of signs of extraterrestrial life.

Bennu is a potentially hazardous asteroid with a 1 in 2,700 chance of colliding with Earth in 2182, the highest of all known celestial bodies. However, researchers are more interested in what lies inside Bennu, which could be a precursor to life on Earth. "This is the largest carbon-rich asteroid sample ever brought back to Earth. These carbon molecules and water are exactly the elements we wanted to detect. They are essential elements in the formation of Earth, helping to determine the origins of life," said NASA administrator Bill Nelson.

Water on Earth is older than the planet itself and may have been brought there through collisions with asteroids and comets. However, water isn't the only material asteroids brought to Earth. In addition, building blocks of life likely attached themselves to the celestial body. Bennu is a B-type asteroid, meaning it contains high levels of carbon and many of the primitive molecules present when life first appeared on Earth. Several building blocks of life, including uracil, one of the many nucleobases that make up RNA, were recently found on the asteroid Ryugu by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hayabusa2 spacecraft (JAXA), returning to Earth with rocky samples in 2020. Scientists on the OSIRIS-REx mission hope to find other precursors to life within the Bennu sample.

The samples were collected after nearly two years of searching for a landing site on Bennu's rugged surface. Upon contact with the asteroid, OSIRIS-REx fired nitrogen from its Touch-and-Go sample collection mechanism, preventing the spacecraft from sinking too deep into the asteroid. This caused rocks and debris to be ejected around the spacecraft, with some of the dust falling into the containment box on OSIRIS-REx. OSIRIS-REx's thrusters then fired, propelling the spacecraft to a higher altitude. The spacecraft completed several close flybys before leaving the asteroid to return to Earth in May 2021.

An Khang (According to Live Science )

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