'Potentially hazardous' asteroid Bennu contains the building blocks of life and minerals unseen on Earth, scientists rev

By Sharmila Kuthunur published 2 days ago

Scientists shared the first comprehensive science results from NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid-sampling mission at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, revealing the out-of-this-world makeup of asteroid Bennu.


TEXAS — Nearly four years after NASA's OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft collected a sample from an asteroid, scientists are finally revealing the intriguing composition of the space rock.

Among them, the near-Earth asteroid, known as Bennu, contains a surprising reservoir of a mineral called magnesium phosphate. These bright-white particles sprinkled in a sea of Bennu's dark rocks is a rare find in astromaterials, scientists say.

"It's no surprise that we initially thought this might be a contaminant," said Jessica Barnes, an assistant professor at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) who's leading the phosphate analysis in the returned sample.

Speaking at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) in Texas and online last week, Barnes said there are no good chemical analogues of the mineral on Earth, either because it is too fragile to survive the fall to Earth or vanishes soon after. Its presence in Bennu's sample can be used to infer different episodes of geologic activity on Bennu's parent body, she said.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/space/asteroids/potentially-hazardous-asteroid-bennu-contains-the-building-blocks-of-life-and-minerals-unseen-on-earth-scientists-reveal-in-1st-comprehensive-analysis