Water and carbon discovered on an asteroid

Outer space may be more hospitable than people once believed. Recently, essential elements for human life were discovered on an asteroid. NASA has revealed that the asteroid Bennu contains water and carbon, as scientists had hoped. This discovery was made when NASA shared the first images of the dust and dark fragments that make up the largest sample ever collected from an asteroid and brought back to Earth.

"Water and carbon molecules are precisely the kinds of matter we were hoping to find," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson during an event in Houston. "These are crucial elements in the formation of our planet, and they will help us determine the origin of the elements that could have led to the emergence of life," he added. The Osiris-Rex mission collected this sample from the asteroid Bennu in 2020, and the capsule containing the precious cargo successfully returned to Earth about two weeks ago, landing in a desert in the United States. Since then, the meticulous process of opening the capsule has been taking place in an airtight room at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. However, the operation has brought some surprises for scientists. Due to the abundance of material found just outside the collection chamber, it has not been opened yet, according to Eileen Stansbery, coordinating researcher at the Johnson Space Center. "We are taking the time to conduct a methodical analysis and properly care for each piece of Bennu," she explained. Before the capsule landed, NASA estimated that it had collected about 250 grams of material from the asteroid Bennu - more than the previous two Japanese missions sent to other asteroids. NASA, for which this maneuver was a first, will need to confirm or refute that estimate.

The happy surprise of this "bonus" material can be explained by an incident during the sample collection: right after the operation, NASA realized that the collection chamber's lid had not closed. The cargo was successfully secured by being transferred, as planned, into the capsule. However, due to this leakage, scientists expected certain residues to be found outside the chamber, in the box where it was placed. That "black dust" and "residues," according to NASA's terminology, were given to a rapid analysis team to provide an initial idea of Bennu's composition. The sample was analyzed using a scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, and infrared measurements. The study of asteroids will enable scientists to better understand the formation of the solar system and how Earth became a habitable planet. Asteroids like Bennu could have brought compounds to Earth that later allowed life to emerge, according to some researchers. Most of the sample will be preserved for future generations to study with more advanced tools and answer new scientific questions. This is similar to the approach used with lunar rocks brought to Earth during the Apollo program. The analysis of samples from Bennu could prove useful in the future. There is a low risk (1 in 2,700) that this asteroid could impact Earth in 2182, which would be catastrophic. Knowing its exact composition could potentially aid in calculating the needed impact to deflect its trajectory if necessary one day.