NASA finds water and organics in asteroid sample—possible clues to origin of life

Enlarge / A view of the outside of the OSIRIS-REx sample collector. Scientists have found evidence of both carbon and water in initial analysis of this material. The bulk of the sample is located inside. (credit: NASA/Erika Blumenfeld & Joseph Aebersold)

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Texas—As they unveiled the first samples recovered from an asteroid on Wednesday, scientists were giddy at the prospects of what this material will tell us about the origin of our planet and possibly even ourselves.

After seven years in space, a small spacecraft carrying samples from the asteroid Bennu landed in a Utah desert in late September. Following carefully choreographed procedures to prevent the contamination of the asteroid dust and rocks from life on Earth, the samples were transferred to a clean room at Johnson Space Center in Houston two weeks ago. Since then, scientists have examined some of the material that was collected outside of the primary container to glean some initial insights. They revealed some of their first data during an event at the center on Wednesday.

“Boy, did we really nail it,” said Dante Lauretta, a scientist from the University of Arizona who is the principal investigator of the OSIRIS-REx mission.