Asteroids consist of the creation blocks of life, scientists say

The chemical manufacturing blocks of life have been found in the granular dust of an asteroid called Benu, an analysis.

Space rock samples, brought by NASA’s spacecraft and brought to Earth, have a rich array of minerals and thousands of organic compounds.

These include amino acids, which are molecules that make proteins, as well as nucleobes – the basic components of DNA.

This does not mean that there was some life on Benanu, but it supports the principle that asteroids brought these important materials to the Earth when they crashed our planets billions of years ago.

Scientists feel that the same compounds could also be brought into another world in our solar system.

“What we have learned is amazing,” said Sara Russell, a cosmic mineral at the Natural History Museum in London, is amazing. “

“It is telling us about its origin, and it really enables us to answer them, really big questions about big questions where life started. And who doesn’t want to know how life Started? “

The findings have been published in two letters in the journal Nature.

One of the most adventurous missions of Benanu has been one of the most adventurous missions that NASA has ever tried.

A spacecraft called Osiris Rex uprooted a robotic arm before packing a robotic arm into a capsule to collect some of the 500 meter wide space rock and before returning to Earth in 2023.

About 120 grams of black dust was collected and shared with scientists around the world. It may not look like too much material, but it is a treasure.

“Every grain is telling us something new about Bennu,” Professor Russell said, who are studying small spots.

About one teaspoon of asteroid was sent to scientists in Britain.

New research has shown that space rock is filled with nitrogen and carbon-rich compounds.

These include 14 out of 20 amino acids that use life protein on Earth and form all four molecules of ring -shaped that form DNA – Adenin, Guanin, Cytocin and Thymine.

The study also found an array of minerals and salts, suggesting that the water was once present on the asteroid. Ammonia, which is important for biochemical reactions, was also discovered in the sample.

Some of these compounds have been seen in space rocks that have fallen on the earth, but others have not yet been detected.

“It is incredible how rich it is. It is full of these minerals that we have not seen in the first meteorites and their combinations that we have not seen before. It’s an exciting thing to study,” Prof. Russell said .

This latest study connects growing evidence that asteroids brought water and biological material to Earth.

Dr. from Natural History Museum. Ashley King said, “The initial solar system was really disturbed and there were millions of asteroids like Benanu.”

The idea is that these youth bomb the earth, sow our planets with materials that gave us to the oceans and made life possible.

But the Earth was not just a world colliding with space rocks. Asteroids must also be hitting other planets.

Dr. King said, “Earth is unique, this is the only place where we have found life till now, but we know that asteroids were distributing those materials, carbon and water throughout the solar system.”

“And now one of the big things we are trying to understand is one of them, if you have the right situation, then why we have life on earth here – and whether we potentially we have potentially somewhere else in our solar system Can get?”

This is an important question that the scientists will continue to try.

They have decades of research that is on the dust brought back from Benanu, and still has to detect parts of our cosmic neighborhood.