Dust collected by a NASA spacecraft from asteroid Bennu has been found to contain large amounts of carbon and water, essential elements in the formation of the Earth.
According to NASA, this may mean that the building blocks of life on Earth are found in rocks.
The samples were unveiled Wednesday, just over two weeks after the Osiris-Rex probe landed. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, “Days like these never cease to amaze me… they give us a glimpse of what lies beyond them.”
This discovery supports the theory that asteroids rich in carbon and water may have been involved in supplying the Earth system with key components, such as the water in our oceans and some compounds that played a role in the emergence of life.
Asteroids like Bennu, which are older than Earth, are of interest to scientists because they are thought to have preserved the chemistry that existed when planets began to form around the Sun.
Scientists believe that many of Earth’s most important components arrived on our planet early in its history through a series of asteroid impacts, many of which may well have been similar to Bennu.
About 250 grams of material from Bennu – the largest sample ever returned to Earth – successfully landed in the Utah desert on September 24 and was transported from there to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Mr Nelson said: “Initial analysis shows samples that contain a lot of water in the form of hydrated clay minerals, and they contain carbon, and you can find carbon in both minerals and organic molecules.”
“At nearly 5 percent carbon, and carbon is central to life, we are well ahead of our target. This is the largest sample of a carbon-rich asteroid ever to return to Earth.”
He told an audience at the Johnson Space Center in Houston: “Carbon and water molecules are exactly the kind of material we wanted to find. They are key elements in the formation of our planet and will help us determine the origin of the elements from which life may have arisen.”
Mr. Nelson said he hopes the findings will help reveal “who we are, what we are, where we come from and where we fit in this vastness we call the Universe.”
“This will deepen our understanding of our solar system. And it will improve our understanding of asteroids that could threaten us here on Earth and help us protect our planet,” he said.
While more work is needed to understand the nature of the detected carbon compounds, the initial discovery bodes well for future analyzes of the asteroid sample.
The discovery was part of NASA’s Osiris-Rex (Origin, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security – Regolith Explorer) science team’s preliminary assessment.
“The Osiris-Rex sample is the largest carbon-rich asteroid sample ever brought to Earth and will help scientists study the origins of life on our planet for future generations… The sample has returned to Earth, but it exists.” There’s still a lot of science ahead of us—science that we’ve never seen before,” Mr. Nelson said.
NASA’s Johnson curation experts, working in new clean rooms built specifically for the mission, have so far spent 10 days carefully dismantling the equipment to look at the voluminous sample contained inside.
The goal was to collect just 60 grams of asteroid material. However, when the lid of the scientific container was opened for the first time, the scientists discovered additional material covering the outside of the head, lid and bottom of the collection container. There was so much extra material that it slowed down the process of collecting and preserving the primary sample.
“Our labs were ready for anything Bennu threw at us,” said NASA Johnson Director Vanessa Wyche. “Scientists and engineers have worked side by side for years to develop specialized glove boxes and instruments to preserve asteroid material in pristine form and manipulate samples so researchers can study this precious gift of space now and for decades to come.”
During the first two weeks, scientists carried out “rapid analysis” of the source material, collecting scanning electron microscope images, infrared measurements, X-ray diffraction and chemical elemental analysis.
X-ray computed tomography also created a 3D computer model of one of the particles, highlighting its varied internal structure. This early look provided evidence for the abundance of carbon and water.
“As we ponder the ancient secrets held in the dust and rocks of asteroid Bennu, we are opening a time capsule that offers us deep insight into the origins of our solar system,” said Osiris-Rex principal investigator Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona. , Tucson.
“The abundance of carbon-rich material and the abundance of hydrous clay minerals are just the tip of the cosmic iceberg. These discoveries, made possible by years of dedicated collaboration and pioneering science, propel us on a journey to understand not only our celestial environment, but also the potential for life to emerge.
“With each revelation from Bennu, we move closer to solving the mysteries of our cosmic heritage.”
Over the next two years, the scientific team will continue to characterize the samples and conduct analyses.
NASA will retain at least 70 percent of the sample at Johnson for further study. More than 200 scientists from around the world will study the properties of the regolith, including researchers from the University of Manchester, the Natural History Museum, many US institutions, Jaxa (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
Additional samples will also be given to the Smithsonian Institution, Space Center Houston and the University of Arizona for public display.
The dust from this asteroid could be significant because it was collected directly from the asteroid in space, meaning little to no contamination occurred.
In contrast, meteorites that fall to Earth quickly become contaminated from the moment they come into contact with our atmosphere.
Scientists believe that asteroids like Bennu may have released these molecules and water through impacts with Earth, which explains why our planet now has both in abundance.
Bennu’s rocks are different from those on Earth because factors such as weather and erosion have altered the planet.
Although Japan’s Hayabusa mission previously brought back samples from a cosmic asteroid called Ryugu, this is the first asteroid sample collected by NASA and the largest volume ever collected from space.
Comparing the two asteroid dust samples will be an important part of research aimed at understanding the history of the solar system.
Osiris-Rex obtained Bennu materials in 2020 by maneuvering near the asteroid 330 million kilometers from Earth and then high-fiving it. It then took almost three years for the tube to return home.
When the monster entered Earth’s atmosphere last month, it did so at a speed of about 27,000 miles per hour, protected by the capsule of the Osiris-Rex spacecraft, the culmination of a seven-year journey through the solar system.
The capsule was red-hot when it hit the upper atmosphere and fell to Earth, with temperatures inside expected to reach 2,800°C.
Source: I News
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