A modern case in point: The asteroid Bennu contains all the materials needed for life. The OSIRIS-REx mission launched in 2016. Its main aim was to study Bennu and retrieve samples to bring back ...

Samples from Bennu contained all five of the "letters" that make up life's genetic codes — DNA and RNA — alongside minerals rich in carbon, sulfur, phosphorus, fluorine and sodium — the ...

The most recent studies include findings from the subjects of mineralogy and organics, but all point to the presence of life’s building blocks in Bennu’s samples. Asteroid Bennu today is ...

There was also a vast collection of other hydrated and organic minerals. All of this suggests that Bennu has experienced quite a lot throughout its lifetime and that our theories that structurally ...

In 2016, NASA embarked on a new and unique mission: sending the Osiris-REx spacecraft to rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu to study the rocky space object and collect samples to return to ...

The asteroid Bennu is puzzling scientists, with samples from the space rock showing weirder properties than they expected. These include extremely high nitrogen levels and improbably magnetic ...