It has been confirmed that water and carbon exist in the near-Earth asteroid ‘Bennu’, which is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old.
Accordingly, expectations are rising that research on materials from the early days of the solar system may be able to unlock the secret of how life appeared on Earth.
NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, released samples of ‘Bennu’ collected by the asteroid probe ‘Osiris-Rex’ capsule, which returned on the 24th of last month, at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on the 11th local time.
“The rocks and dust contained in the capsule contain water and large amounts of carbon,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “This suggests that asteroids like Bennu may have delivered the basic elements of life to Earth.” .
“The first analysis shows that there is a significant amount of water in the clay minerals,” he said. “There is also carbon in both minerals and organic molecules.”
“This sample, which far exceeds our target of 60 grams, is the most carbon-rich asteroid sample ever returned to Earth,” he said. “Carbon and water molecules are the substances we were looking for.”
He said, “These materials are important elements in the formation of the Earth,” and expected, “It will help to identify the origin of the elements that gave rise to life.”
The capsule mounted on the Osiris-Rex asteroid probe returned last month after a journey of 6.2 billion kilometers, seven years after it was launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Center in September 2016.
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