Episode Details

The first detailed analysis of samples from asteroid Bennu suggests this space rock may once have been part of a water-rich world—possibly even a fragment of an ancient ocean.

Collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission from 101955 Bennu, the material contains minerals that typically form in the presence of liquid water. Scientists have also identified carbon-rich compounds, strengthening the idea that early asteroids could have carried both water and the building blocks of life across the solar system.

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