NASA OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return team has revealed exciting evidence of the precursors of life in the pieces of space rock Bennu.

The OSIRIS-REx mission returned to the sample to Earth in September of 2023, and these studies show that it contains amino acids, nucleobases, and minerals known as evaporites—all elements of life’s ...

Scientists from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission ... blocks” that would allow life to develop. Of the 20 amino acids in proteins made by life on Earth to form proteins, 14 ...

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft returned triumphantly ... In addition to the 14 biological amino acids, the samples from Bennu also contained 19 more non-biological amino acids, as well as the five ...

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission successfully returned ... When exposed to formaldehyde, which was also detected, ammonia can form amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. According to the study ...

A big question in the origin of life on Earth is why it is based solely on "left-handed" amino acids ... Jason Dworkin, project scientist for the OSIRIS-Rex mission, thinks there may be a ...

This image, taken by NASA's Osiris-Rex probe in December 2018, shows the asteroid Bennu. Scientists have identified 14 of the 20 amino acids used by terrestrial life, as well as the five nucleic acid ...

A portion of the asteroid Bennu sample delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission ... including ammonia and 14 of the 20 amino acids necessary for life on Earth. Dr. Danny Glavin and Dr. Dante ...

This raises questions about how and why life on Earth "turned left" in its amino acid preference. NASA launched the OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid Bennu in 2016 to gain insights into the early ...

The U.S. space agency's robotic OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in 2020 collected ... Present in the samples were 14 of the 20 organic compounds called amino acids that are used to make proteins - complex ...