NASA Reveals Carbon and Water Found in Record-Breaking Asteroid Sample 

In a historic reveal, NASA announced that its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has returned an unprecedented asteroid sample containing “crucial elements” that may provide insight into the early days of our solar system. 

Arriving on September 24, a pristine sample from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, estimated to be around 4.5 billion years old, landed in the Utah desert within a capsule. Upon initial analysis, this sample exceeded NASA's goal of 60 grams, marking it as the most substantial carbon-rich asteroid sample ever retrieved on Earth. This finding suggests the existence of water and an unexpectedly high concentration of carbon, hinting at the possibility that asteroids could have played a crucial role in delivering essential components for life on Earth.

“The carbon and water molecules are exactly the kinds of material that we wanted to find,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson at a news conference Wednesday. “They’re crucial elements in the formation of our own planet. And they will help us determine the origin of elements that could have led to life.”

The sample contains abundant hydrated clay minerals and organic molecules, proving that water and carbon were incorporated into asteroids early in the solar system's formation. 

"That is how we think water got to Earth,” said OSIRIS-REx principal investigator Dante Lauretta. “The reason that Earth is a habitable world, that we have oceans and lakes and rivers and rain, is because these clay minerals landed on Earth 4 billion years ago to 4 and a half billion years ago, making our world habitable."

Scientists also found sulfide minerals, iron oxide minerals, and other compounds that may have been important for organic and planetary evolution. The sample boasts one of the highest concentrations of carbon ever analyzed in an asteroid, at nearly 5% by weight.

“We picked the right asteroid, and not only that, we brought back the right sample,” said OSIRIS-REx sample analyst Daniel Glavin. “This stuff is an astrobiologist’s dream.”

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected the sample in October 2020 when it approached near enough Bennu to fire a blast of nitrogen gas at its surface. The burst lifted rock and dust from 50 centimeters beneath the asteroid into the spacecraft's sampling head.  

On September 24, 2022, that sample floated back to Earth in a capsule that detached from OSIRIS-REx and parachuted into the Utah Test and Training Range. Since then, scientists have eagerly studied the material that spilled out when they opened the capsule. There is even more asteroid treasure still sealed away inside.

Over the next two weeks, the team will continue disassembling the sampling mechanism to access the rest of the rocks and soil. Lauretta estimates they now have hundreds of grams of sample to study, far exceeding the mission's goal of 60 grams.

The dust and fragments retrieved from Bennu's surface and interior hold the potential to unveil valuable information about the formation and evolution of similar asteroids over billions of years. Additionally, these discoveries will assist NASA in assessing strategies for redirecting Bennu, a celestial body with a slight probability of colliding with Earth in the future.

The journey to this juncture has been extensive. While the OSIRIS-REx mission officially launched in 2016, Lauretta had been involved in its development nearly two decades prior.

“Rocks tell you a story,” he said. “The greatest mystery that we’re facing right now is, how do you go from a ball of mud to something that’s alive? When do you make that transition? The deepest desire is that we’re going to make some progress in trying to figure out why is it that we’re here in this universe.”

In the coming two years, the scientists at Johnson Space Center will focus their endeavors on thoroughly examining the sample. Furthermore, they intend to allocate portions of it to partners like the Canadian Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Roughly 70% of the sample will be carefully preserved in its original state, guaranteeing that future researchers can scrutinize it using even more advanced technologies.

“Our labs were ready for whatever Bennu had in store for us,” said Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche. “We’ve had scientists and engineers working side-by-side for years to develop specialized gloveboxes and tools to keep the asteroid material pristine and to curate the samples so researchers now and decades from now can study this precious gift from the cosmos.”

Initiated in 2016, the OSIRIS-REx mission aimed to investigate and obtain a sample from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. This particular asteroid was chosen due to the belief that it holds a wealth of carbon, potentially housing organic molecules and hydrated minerals dating back to the early solar system. Following more than two years of orbiting Bennu, the spacecraft successfully gathered a sample in October 2020, commencing its voyage back to Earth.

The sample capsule gently descended into Utah on September 24, 2022. It was swiftly retrieved and then transported to NASA's Johnson Space Center. Excited scientists promptly unsealed it, revealing an unparalleled treasure trove of asteroid material ready for in-depth study.

This pristine sample of rocks and dust from Bennu's surface and interior represents the largest sample returned from an asteroid. Initial findings show it contains clay minerals, sulfides, organic matter, and abundant carbon - ingredients that may have helped seed life on Earth.

The level of carbon found in this asteroid sample ranks among the highest ever observed. As per the mission team's assessment, the abundance of carbon and water indicates that asteroids akin to Bennu could have transported the fundamental components for life to Earth billions of years ago.

Over the next two years, scientists worldwide will thoroughly investigate the sample. Their goal is to delve into the early history of our solar system and fathom the potential impact of asteroids in jumpstarting life on Earth. Furthermore, the insights gleaned from these studies could play a role in NASA's endeavors to develop strategies for diverting asteroids like Bennu that may pose a threat of impacting our planet.

"This is a major milestone accomplished by the OSIRIS-REx team,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “These pristine samples will help tell the story of how our solar system formed and how we came to be.”

For OSIRIS-REx principal investigator Dante Lauretta, who first conceived of this mission 20 years ago, the sample's arrival on Earth and preliminary findings represent the culmination of a lifelong quest to understand our cosmic origins.

He said, “The greatest mystery we're facing right now is, how do you go from a ball of mud to something alive? We think these samples hold clues that will get us closer to answering that question.”