The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has successfully returned samples from the asteroid Bennu, leading to significant discoveries of rare minerals and organic compounds. Observations during the spacecraft's two-year mission indicated Bennu's rich composition of carbon and water-bearing clays, alongside veins left by ancient liquid water. An array of advanced imaging techniques then revealed the presence of salts and organic molecules, including amino acid precursors and nucleobases, suggesting Bennu could have provided essential building blocks for life on Earth, particularly through the chemical processes in its briny pockets of fluid.
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft's return of samples from asteroid Bennu has revealed a trove of organic molecules and minerals that are essential to the origins of life.
The existence of briny water on Bennu suggests that it held the right conditions for molecular complexity, which may have contributed to the emergence of life on Earth.
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