The asteroid that carries some of the basic building blocks of life is Reported In the journal Natural astronomy. This discovery opens up the possibility that life on Earth could have seeded by the universe chemicals billions before billions of years ago.
NISA officials Nicky Fox said, “Asteroids provide a time capsule to our hometown of history and the sample of Bennu is a pivotal to understanding the components of our solar system before it starts on Earth. press release. “NASA’s Osiris-Rex Mission is already rewriting textbooks about understanding the beginning of the solar system.”
I am looking for signs of life in the asteroid.
The meteorites that decompose the asteroid were theoretical into a potential vehicle for life -drawn chemical passengers, but it was tricky to analyze the signs. Since the meteorite passes through the atmosphere, it can contaminate samples while picking up moisture.
To bypass the problem, NASA Osiris-Rex Mission In September 2023, we brought 121.6 grams of sample from Benu. The international scientist team analyzed the largest asteroid samples that returned to Earth and reported that they had organic matters including ammonia and nitrogen.
These chemicals are the key to building both DNA and RNA. This sample contains evidence of a sticky sticky broth that can interact and combine chemicals.
The discovery does not show life elsewhere in another planet or the universe, but it shows that the chemical component was driven out of space before defending the earth.
Read more: The first sample of 4.5 billion asteroid Benescenians can contain the seeds of life.
Seed for space life?
NASA’s Benu samples were treated under nitrogen to avoid pollution. Scientists at Kyushu University in Japan have analyzed high -resolution mass analysis. These are the techniques used to identify molecules based on weight and charge. They were especially interested in finding a ring -shaped molecule with carbon and nitrogen.
By doing so, they hit organic chemical gold: samples include all five ad nin, guanine, cytosine, thymine, and uracil needed to build DNA and RNA. They also discovered xantin, hypotanin and nicotine acids (vitamin B3).
In an early study on other asteroids called Ryugu, scientists only found only uracil and nicotinic acid. The other four nuclei are missing. It may be because the two asteroids picked up another chemical hitchhiker depending on the path and location.
Toshiki KOGA, a researcher at the Japan Maritime Earth Science and Technology, said, “The richness and complexity of the N-heterocycles between Bennu and Ryugu can reflect the differences in the environment exposed to the universe. A press release.
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Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik has been a science journalist for more than 20 years and has specialized in the issue of American life science policy and global science career. He started his career in the newspaper but switched to a science magazine. His work was published in publications, including science news, science, nature and scientific Americans.
