Asteroids like Bennu can have ‘building construction’ blocks for life for the earth – Understanding NASA’s new discovery. Mint

In a major turn of The Study of Life Beyond Earth, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) stated earlier this week that the samples collected from the asteroid Bennu had “a mixture of life”.

In the research papers published on Wednesday at Journal Nature and Nature Astronomy, scientists from NASA and other institutions shared the results of the first intensive analysis of minerals and molecules in Benanu samples, which Osiris-Rex was transported to Earth in 2023.

The latest discovery to be unveiled by NASA on 29 January came as a surprise and presented many exciting questions such as “Why not life on Bennu?” Was it a lack of temperature, absence of environment, or other essential chemical components? There are no new papers – no more – can still say.

According to Space.com, about almost all the new conclusions of NASA, Bennu’s samples suggested that the asteroid had the right material for life as we know.

What did NASA get in asteroid bennu samples?

In 2023, samples of asteroid bennu were transported to Earth by NASA’s Osiris-Rex Mission. Since then, scientists and researchers have been working for a clock to understand their components and examine life beyond Earth.

NASA said in a press release that asteroid Benu revealed molecules from the study of rock and dust which are important for life on our planet. It also showed a history of saltwater that could serve as “broth” for interaction and combination for these compounds.

What NASA has found in Bennu samples here

1. A asteroid was found in a warm water extract from the bennu sample in the “extraordinary high” and “stunning abundance” of ammonia, a major chemical building block for life. This may indicate that there is a possibility of material formed in a cold area of ​​the solar system beyond the orbit of Jupiter.

Researchers found a million 230 parts of ammonia. The Times Magazine has NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, a senior scientist for the return of sample in Maryland, quoting the Times magazine about 100 times higher than the natural level of ammonia in the soil on Earth.

2. Fourteen of 20 amino acids that use life on earth were used to make protein, bennu was discovered within samples.

3. Bennu samples perform a similar abundance of left-handed and right-hand amino acids, such as L and D-Serine mirror paintings are painted below. This means that the initial earth can begin with the same abundance, before life develops a left -handed biology.

4. Scientists found all five nuclearbes – the genetic components of DNA and RNA within the benu samples. Adenin and thymine are two of the five nuclearbes that encode genetic information in DNA and RNA.

5. From calcite to halite and silvite, scientists identified the scar of 11 minerals in the bennu sample, which evaporates for a long time in the form of water containing dissolving salts, leaving behind the salts left behind as solid crystal goes.

In particular, they found several sodium salts, such as hydrated sodium carbonate needles – salts could be easily compromised if the samples were exposed to water in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Some minerals found in Benanu, such as Trona, were first discovered in extretterial samples.

What does these new conclusions mean?

NASA clarified that the conclusions “do not show the evidence for life themselves, but they suggest that the conditions required for the emergence of life were broad in the early solar system.” It increases that life can be formed on other planets and moons.

These building blocks for the life found in Bennu samples have been found in the first extretterial rocks. NASA said, “However, his identity in an ancient sample collected in space supports the idea that objects away from the Sun can be an important source of raw precursor material for life throughout the solar system,” NASA said.

The US Space Agency stated that the samples of Bennu are important in understanding which materials were present in our solar system before life started on Earth. Conclusions suggest that similar asteroids may have brought us the raw material of life when they bombed our planet billions of years ago, the Times magazine said.

Nick Fox, Associate Administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said, “All this supports the principle that asteroids like Benanu were among the sources who distributed water and chemical construction blocks for life for life for life. Was.” The papers were released.

The Osiris-Rex Project Scientist at NASA Goddard and co-Leid writer Jason Dwarkin on Astronomy Paper said, “Osiris-rax data adds to a solar system picture with life’s ability. We, so far, only look at life on earth and not anywhere else, this is actually a tentalizing question. ,

Many questions remain

NASA reported that many amino acids can be made in two mirror-image versions, like a pair of left and right hands. It said that life on Earth produces almost especially left -handed type, but bennu samples have a similar mixture of both.

Researchers said, “This means that on early earth, amino acids can begin in a uniform mixture, as well. The reason for life” left “instead of the right life remains a mystery,” the researchers said.

This discovery also shows the hypothesis of scientists that similar asteroids may have lived life on earth, the nature journal.