NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission uncovered a cosmic connection between asteroid Bennu and Earth’s Searles Lake. Both contain minerals formed by evaporating salty water, hinting that Bennu’s parent body once ...

The asteroid Bennu has provided groundbreaking insights into the chemistry that may have set the stage for life in the early ...

Rock and dust samples brought back to Earth from the asteroid Bennu contain organic matter and a variety of minerals crucial to the emergence of life ...

A NASA mission collected the sample and brought it back in 2023, and scientists have found traces of ancient brine that contains minerals that are the raw ingredients of life.

The Bennu samples contain 14 of the 20 amino acids that are essential for life on Earth to build proteins. Also found were ...

The OSIRIS-REx mission returned to the sample to Earth in September of 2023, and these studies show that it contains amino ...

The two previous asteroid sample missions, by Japan, yielded considerably less material.Small amounts of Bennu's precious black ... the National Museum of Natural History's curator of meteorites.

The two previous asteroid sample missions, by Japan, yielded considerably less material.Small amounts of Bennu's precious black grains ... "that's really the pathway to life," said McCoy, the National ...

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission returned from space with a sample of an asteroid named Bennu and scientists got to dive into a tale of rock, ice and water that hints at how life could have formed on Earth.

Credit: NASA "We're seeing minerals in Bennu samples that we have never seen before in a meteorite or any extraterrestrial sample," said Tim McCoy of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural ...