Asteroid Samples Surprise Science

Samples brought back from the asteroid Bennu by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission have revealed a surprising discovery. Researchers have discovered that many of the fragments recovered from the asteroid's surface contain minerals from a former ocean world.

Discoveries reveal possible past of celestial body

• The team responsible for the study identified the presence of magnesium and sodium phosphate.
• These minerals can be found in the Earth's oceanic crust and are characteristic of oceanic worlds.
• This means that the asteroid may have broken away from a primitive ocean world long ago.
• Recent research suggests that the celestial body, now classified as a dwarf planet, must come from a large family related to the asteroid 142 Polana, which is about 55 kilometers in diameter.
• These clusters of rocks, which likely resulted from the catastrophic fragmentation of a larger body, typically occur in certain regions of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
• Asteroid families are nothing more than concrete evidence that larger bodies have been destroyed by massive impacts over the ages.

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Important in understanding how life appeared on Earth

According to the researchers, Bennu is one of the asteroids left over from that period, and the discovery of these materials is essential to revealing the initial hydration processes of the first worlds that formed in the solar system.

But they can also provide clues about the catalytic properties of organic compounds that the original minerals that make up these rocks may have contributed to the emergence of life on Earth.

Moreover, the analysis of rocks collected from the surface of the asteroid Bennu reminds us of the importance of developing this type of sample return mission, without waiting for them to reach our planet on their own.

Especially since some of the minerals it contains may not survive the millions of years the rock must spend in space before reaching our planet. The information is from G1.