He asteroid Determine offered again key clues about the origins of the solar system and about how the first ingredients of life.
Three new scientific studies, published in Nature Geoscience y Nature Astronomyanalyzed samples brought to Earth by the mission OSIRIS-REx of the NASA. The results include the finding of essential sugars, a gummy material never seen in space rocks and a lot of dust from ancient supernovae.
The probe OSIRIS-REx collected “pristine” materialthat is, without terrestrial contamination, directly from the surface of Bennu.
These samples allow us to study what the solar system was like ago. more than 4.500 million years and what compounds were present when the planets formed.
Essential sugars for life
A team led by Yoshihiro Furukawafrom Tohoku University, found ribose (a five-carbon sugar) and, for the first time in an extraterrestrial sample, glucose (six carbons).
These compounds They do not imply that there was life on Bennubut they do prove that the basic ingredients of biological molecules were widespread in the early solar system.
An artist’s visualization of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descending toward Bennu. Photo: NASA/Goddard/University of ArizonaRibose is a key component of ARN (ribonucleic acid), a molecule essential for life as we know it. The finding confirms that, in addition to nitrogenous bases, amino acids and carboxylic acids already detected before, Bennu contains all the elements necessary to form RNA.
The scientists emphasize that, unlike ribose, deoxyribose, the DNA sugar, was not detected. This suggests that, in the early solar system, ribose may have been more abundant.
This difference supports the hypothesis of “RNA world”which proposes that early life forms relied primarily on RNA to store information and carry out chemical reactions.
The samples also contained glucoseone of the most common sources of energy for terrestrial organisms. It is the first time that this sugar has been detected in space materialindicating that some of the basic “food” for primitive life forms already existed before the Earth consolidated.
The mysterious “space gum” never before seen on asteroids
The second study, led by scientists from the NASA and of the University of California at Berkeleyidentified a Material gomosoflexible at its origin and hardened over time.
It is composed of nitrogen and oxygen rich polymersy It’s unlike anything found before in meteorites or space rocks..
The researchers believe that this “space rubber” It formed when Bennu’s parent asteroid began to heat up. In this process, they emerged carbamates, water-soluble compounds which were then polymerized to form larger and stronger molecules.
The scientists observed that it folded and marked when pressed, like hardened chewing gum. To study it, they had to extract fragments a thousand times thinner than a hair and analyze them with electron microscopes and high-precision X-rays.
The asteroid fragment measures 30 micrometers wide. Photo: NASA/University of California, BerkeleyThe discovery could offer a window into the solar system’s early chemical changes. These complex molecules may have provided chemical precursors that were later They allowed life to emerge on Earth.
Supernova dust galore
The third study, led by Ann Nguyenanalyzed presolar grains —particles formed before the birth of the solar system—present in the Bennu sample. The scientists found six times more supernova dust than in any other space material studied so far.
The results indicate that the progenitor body of Bennu would have formed in a region of the protoplanetary disk rich in star remains that exploded. This dust is key to understanding what materials were available when the first asteroids originated.
Although the parent asteroid experienced alterations by water, the samples contained areas that remained almost intact. There they found more organic compounds and brittle grains which are normally destroyed by contact with water. This suggests that parts of Bennu retained very old and little modified materials.
