NASA and its partners have published the first wave of information about the samples collected during the OSIRIS-REx mission. “The findings do not indicate the existence of life per se, but they do indicate that the conditions necessary for life to emerge were widespread in the early solar system, raising the possibility that life could have formed on other planets and satellites,” NASA said in a press release.
The OSIRIS-REx mission used a rather interesting technology to autonomously collect rocks and dust from the asteroid Bennu. Asteroids can act as time capsules, and Bennu reflects what was happening in the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago. After flying 3.9 billion kilometers, the capsule returned safely to Earth on September 24, 2023.
One of the articles about Bennu published in the journal Nature Astronomy showed that the samples contained 14 amino acids and five nucleotides that are also found in life forms on Earth. They also found high levels of ammonia in the Bennu samples, as well as formaldehyde; when these two components combine under the right conditions, they can form complex molecules such as amino acids.
The second publication appeared in the journal Nature, and it details the environment in which these molecules are formed. They found signs of “brine” by identifying a set of minerals that could have been left behind after the evaporation of salt water.
“The OSIRIS-REx data adds important touches to a picture of a solar system teeming with the potential for life,” said Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA Goddard. “Why we’ve only seen life on Earth so far and not elsewhere is a really tantalizing question.”
