Samples of the asteroid Bennu collected in space contain carbon and water molecules, fundamental components of life as we know it, the US space agency NASA revealed this Wednesday.

They are “exactly the kind of materials we wanted to find,” NASA chief Bill Nelson said in a presentation. He added that the water was in the form of hydrated clay minerals.

NASA unveiled this Wednesday the first images of the largest sample ever collected from an asteroid in space. It is estimated that this space rock could impact Earth in 2182.

The The OSIRIS-REx mission collected rock and dust from asteroid Bennu in October 2020and a capsule carrying the precious cargo successfully returned to Earth just over two weeks ago, landing in the Utah desert. It is now being carefully analyzed in a specialized room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

OSIRIS-REx was not the first mission to encounter an asteroid and return samples for research: Japan has accomplished the feat twice, returning fragments from space in 2010 and 2020. But the significant amount of material (250 grams) compared to the 5.4 grams returned by the Japanese Hayabusa2 is an important difference.

NASA chose to sample Bennu because it is believed to be rich in organic compounds. Scientists believe that similar asteroids could have provided organic building blocks to Earth together with water billions of years ago.

Bennu’s orbit, which intersects with Earth’s, also made the round trip easier than a trip to the asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter.

It could mean the end of the earth

The analyzes will allow us to obtain an inventory of the minerals observed and perhaps determine their contribution. Scientists mainly believe that Bennu contains hydrated minerals.

It is believed that Bennu was formed from pieces of a larger asteroid in the asteroid belt after a massive collisionbetween one and two billion years ago.

Studying asteroids should allow scientists to better understand the formation of the solar system and how Earth became habitable.

Some scientists believe that asteroids like Bennu could have brought to Earth the compounds that later enabled the birth of life.

Most of the sample will be preserved to be studied by future generations, with new and more efficient instruments, and to answer new scientific questions. This is what was done with the moon rocks brought back during the Apollo program.

In addition to scientific knowledge, a better understanding of Bennu’s composition could be helpful if humanity ever needs to send it away. While there is no chance of an impact on Earth until the mid-21st century, the odds increase to about 1 in 1,750 between then and the year 2300, NASA says. (JO)