A NASA spacecraft mission brought back samples from asteroid Bennu, revealing traces of a salty brine rich in minerals and organic compounds. These molecules are the building blocks of DNA, suggesting asteroids like Bennu may have delivered these key ingredients to Earth billions of years ago.
Scientists say the “building blocks for life” have been found inside the rubble of a 500-metre-wide asteroid in a breakthrough study.
In 2020, a NASA spacecraft scooped up a sample of dust from Bennu in a mission 200 million miles away from Earth. These molecules are the building blocks of DNA, so experts believe it’s likely that asteroids like Bennu delivered these key ingredients to Earth billions of years ago as they hit our planet."That's the kind of environment that could have been essential to the steps that lead from elements to life,” said the Smithsonian Institution’s Tim McCoy, one of the lead study authors.
Nucleobases are the biological structure that make up DNA. Bennu contains all 5 of the nucleobases that form DNA and RNA on Earth and 14 of the 20 amino acids found in proteins.
ASTEROIDS ORIGINS OF LIFE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS DNA SPACE EXPLORATION
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