NASA unveils surprising discovery after opening cannister of asteroid Bennu

NASA scientists found water and carbon after they opened the canister that contained a sample of the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu.

“This is the biggest carbon-rich asteroid sample ever returned to Earth,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where the first images of black dust and pebbles were revealed.

Also read: NASA launches spacecraft to explore metal-rich asteroid Psyche; Here’s what it expects to find

According to NASA administrator, Carbon accounted for almost 5% of the sample’s total weight, and was present in both organic and mineral form, while the water was locked inside the crystal structure of clay minerals.

Scientists believe the reason Earth has oceans, lakes, and rivers is because it was hit by water-carrying asteroids 4 to 4.5 billion years ago, making it a habitable planet.

All life on Earth meanwhile is based on carbon, which forms bonds with other elements to produce proteins and enzymes as well as the building blocks of genetic code, DNA, and RNA.

Also read: NASA’s first asteroid sample has landed that may give clues about Earth’s enemies in outer space

The findings were made through a preliminary analysis involving scanning electron microscopy, X-ray computed tomography, and more.

NASA’s asteroid mission

This is the first US mission to collect a sample from an asteroid. It returned to Earth on 24 September, to drop off material from asteroid Bennu. The spacecraft didn’t land but continued on to a new mission to explore asteroid Apophis.

However, OSIRIS-REx wasn’t the first probe to rendezvous with an asteroid, Japan succeeded in the feat twice, returning celestial dust in 2010 and 2020.

But the amount collected — an estimated 250 grams (half a pound) — dwarfs that returned by the Japanese missions, with Hayabusa2 managing only 5.4 grams.

Named after an ancient Egyptian deity, Bennu is a “primordial artifact preserved in the vacuum of space,” according to NASA, making it an attractive target for study.

Its orbit, which intersects that of our planet, also made the journey easier than going to the Asteroid Belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter.

NASA says it will preserve at least 70% of the sample at Houston for future study — a practice first started in the Apollo era with Moon rocks.

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Updated: 14 Oct 2023, 10:30 AM IST