A new analysis of samples from the asteroid Bennu, NASA’s first asteroid sample captured in space and delivered to Earth, reveals that evaporated water left a briny broth where salts and minerals ...

Samples contain all five nucleobases of DNA and RNA, supporting theory that asteroids may have seeded Earth with life's ...

Scientists have discovered a unique sequence of minerals that formed from evaporated water in samples from Bennu.

The minerals McCoy’s team identified paint a picture of one possible environment present on rocky celestial bodies 4.5 billion years ago. The presence of evaporites means that sodium-rich water once ...

All forms of Earth life have specific chemicals in their makeup, such as amino acids and sugars. Scientists have known that ...

This photo of asteroid Bennu is composed of 12 Polycam images collected on Dec. 2, 2024, by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. NASA A ...

The discovery is a capstone achievement for NASA, which went to great lengths to secure and deliver asteroid samples from ...

The building blocks for life, including salts, organic matter and amino acids have been found in samples returned to Earth ...

Scientists have detected organic compounds and minerals necessary for life in the samples collected by the OSIRIS-REx mission ...

New findings reveal that a NASA mission traveled to an asteroid that may have once been covered in salty lakes containing ...

Bennu’s parent asteroid, which formed around 4.5 billion years ago, seems to have been home to pockets of liquid water.

There are 20 amino acids that create the proteins required for life on our planet — and scientists have now found exactly 14 ...