Rock and dust samples retrieved by NASA from the asteroid Bennu exhibit some of the chemical building blocks of life, according to new research.
The findings provide the strongest evidence yet that asteroids may have planted the seeds of life on Earth and that these ingredients were mingling with water almost right from the start.
"That's the kind of environment that could have been essential to the steps that lead from elements to life,” said the Smithsonian Institution’s Tim McCoy, one of the lead study authors.
Samples collected in 2020 provide some of the best evidence to date that such space rocks may have seeded early Earth with the raw ingredients that fostered the emergence of living organisms.
Here's how.
What is the Bennu asteroid?
The sample return capsule from NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission lies on the ground shortly after touching down in the desert. (AP: NASA)
Bennu is a relatively small asteroid that passes close to Earth about every six years.
The US space agency's robotic OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in 2020 collected the samples from the near-Earth asteroid, a rocky remnant of a larger celestial body that had formed near the dawn of the solar system roughly 4.5 billion years ago.
The samples — 122 grams of dust and pebbles — were delivered to Earth in 2023 by parachute inside a capsule released by OSIRIS-REx that landed in the Utah desert.
It remains the biggest cosmic haul from beyond the moon.
The two previous asteroid sample missions, by Japan, yielded considerably less material.
What did scientists find?
The samples were split up and given to two groups of scientists to analyse.
This image provided by NASA shows a top-down view of the OSIRIS-REx Touch-and-Go-Sample-Acquisition-Mechanism. (AP: NASA)
Two analyses of the samples were published on Wednesday by an international team including scientists from Australia.
One, in the journal Nature Astronomy, found that the samples contained a diverse mixture of organic compounds.
NASA excited by asteroid composition
Photo shows 3D mosaic of Bennu asteroid
And the other, in the journal Nature, found that the samples contained minerals formed when brine — salty water — evaporated on Bennu's parent body, the type of wet environment where prebiotic organic chemistry may have brewed.
Present in the samples were 14 of the 20 organic compounds called amino acids that are used to make proteins – complex molecules that play indispensable roles in the structure, function and regulation of living organisms.
All five nucleobases — the genetic components of DNA and RNA in all life on Earth — were also present.
"They weren't actual signs of life but they are part of the building blocks of life," Trevor Ireland from the University of Queensland who worked on one of the studies said.
"So this says that this material is abundant in the early Solar System and is available for building planets, for building life on our planet, potentially on Mars as well," Professor Ireland said.
The Bennu organic compounds have all been identified previously in small chunks of asteroids known as meteorites that have landed on Earth. But there have been lingering questions because these meteorites could have been contaminated by terrestrial sources.
The Bennu samples were obtained directly from an asteroid and were kept pristine.
"We can trust these results," Dr Glavin said.
In the early solar system, planets including Earth and various moons were pelted by asteroids and other space debris that carried water and chemicals including organic compounds.
"The detection of these key building blocks of life in the Bennu samples supports the theory that asteroids and their fragments seeded the early Earth with the raw ingredients that led to the emergence of life," said astrobiologist Dr Danny Glavin of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, lead author of one of the studies.
"In addition, the fact that these chemical building blocks of life can be formed in space and are widespread throughout the solar system increases the chances that life could have started beyond Earth," Dr Glavin added.
What do these organic compounds tell us?
Organic compounds have one or more carbon atoms that are bound to other elements, usually hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur.
Asteroid Bennu is a perfect place to find building blocks of the solar system, say researchers
Photo shows An artist's concept of OSIRIS-REx at asteroid Bennu.
All life on Earth is based on carbon and is built from organic compounds including the amino acids used to create proteins and nucleobases.
A nucleobase is a nitrogen-containing compound that stores genetic information.
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid) are biomolecular cousins that are fundamental molecules in cell biology. DNA contains an organism's genetic code. RNA carries genetic information it receives from the DNA, putting this information into practice.
"All biology is comprised of organic compounds. The origin of life is related to organic chemistry, some of which is preserved in these rocks from 4.5 billion years ago," said astrobiologist and study co-author Dr Jason Dworkin, the OSIRIS-REx project scientist.
The discovery of organics isn't, however, evidence of life, but rather conditions conducive to kick-starting life in the early Solar System.
"The suite of simple protein amino acids and nucleobases that were found in Bennu are a long way from anything that could be considered 'living,' for example, a more complex self-sustaining chemical system that can replicate and evolve which is comprised of much larger polymers — proteins and nucleic acids — that are found in cells," Dr Glavin said.
'Rubble pile asteroids'
Bennu's icy parent body, perhaps about 100 kilometres in diameter, appears to have formed in the outer solar system and was later destroyed, possibly 1-2 billion years ago.
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Photo shows Geminid meteor streaking across the evening sky.
The fragments then formed Bennu and other "rubble pile" asteroids – loose amalgamations of rocky material rather than solid objects.
Early in its history, some of the ice inside the parent body apparently melted and formed a salty brine.
The researchers detected 11 minerals that formed when the brine evaporated.
The minerals were similar to ones found in other asteroids, but all 11 had never been detected in meteorites that landed on Earth.
"The brines provide an environment in which elements and simple organics could have combined to form more complex prebiotic organics on the pathway to life," said geologist Dr Tim McCoy, curator of meteorites at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington and lead author of one of the studies.
'Are we alone?'
Most of the $1 billion mission's cache has been set aside for future analysis.
Scientists stress more testing is needed to better understand the Bennu samples, as well as more asteroid and comet sample returns. China plans to launch an asteroid sample return mission this year.
Many are pushing for a mission to collect rocks and dirt from the potentially waterlogged dwarf planet Ceres in the main asteroid belt.
Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus also beckon as enticing water worlds. Meanwhile, NASA has core samples awaiting pick-up at Mars, but their delivery is on hold while the space agency studies the quickest and cheapest way to get them here.
“Are we alone?" Dr McCoy said.
"That’s one of the questions we’re trying to answer.”
