[ti:Researchers: NASA Asteroid Samples Contain 'Building Blocks' of Life]
[al:Science & Technology]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2025-02-03]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]Scientists examining material collected from an asteroid say it appears to contain some of the chemical building blocks of life.
[00:13.23]The American spacecraft OSIRIS-REx collected the samples in 2020 from the asteroid Bennu.
[00:24.75]In 2023, the spacecraft sent the rock and dust material back to Earth in a special container that landed by parachute.
[00:37.31]Scientists from the American space agency NASA recovered the samples in the western state of Utah.
[00:48.07]OSIRIS-REx is already on its way to another asteroid called Apophis. 
[00:56.72]It is expected to reach that asteroid in 2029.
[01:02.50]On Bennu, the spacecraft collected a total of 122 grams of material. 
[01:11.28]This is believed to be the largest sample collected from beyond the moon. 
[01:19.71]NASA has shared some of the material with international researchers.
[01:26.08]Two research groups released studies last week describing results of their examinations of the asteroid material.
[01:37.39]One study, published in Nature Astronomy, suggested the samples contained a mixture of organic compounds. 
[01:48.60]Organic compounds have one or more carbon atoms that attach to other elements, usually hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur. 
[02:02.37]All life on Earth is based on carbon and is built from organic compounds.
[02:10.72]The other study, published in Nature, provides evidence that a much larger object, which Bennu is believed to have broken off from, once held salty, liquid water.
[02:26.84]The researchers said this suggests that in the early solar system, asteroids such as Bennu might have transported water and life-supporting chemicals to other planets and moons.
[02:45.19]Researchers from both groups noted it was important that the samples they worked with came directly from the asteroid itself.
[02:56.60]Asteroid pieces that fall to Earth turn into meteorites, and chemicals inside the samples can be changed or lost.
[03:09.44]In a statement, NASA said the findings do not provide direct evidence of life itself. 
[03:18.66]However, the space agency said, "They do suggest the conditions necessary for the emergence of life were widespread across the early solar system." 
[03:34.09]This increases the chances that "life could have formed on other planets and moons," the statement added.
[03:43.79]The parent of Bennu is believed to be an icy body measuring about 100 kilometers across. 
[03:53.10]Scientists believe the body formed in the outer solar system and was later destroyed, possibly 1 to 2 billion years ago. 
[04:05.01]The pieces that broke off likely formed Bennu and other asteroids observed to be masses of loose material, rather than solid objects.
[04:18.95]Nicky Fox is the associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington D.C. 
[04:28.80]She praised the OSIRIS-REx mission, saying it was "already rewriting the textbook on what we understand about the beginnings of our solar system."
[04:43.47]Fox added that she hopes the samples can help scientists understand "what ingredients in our solar system existed before life started on Earth."
[04:58.95]Tim McCoy is a researcher at the U.S. Smithsonian Institution and was a lead writer of the Nature study. 
[05:09.55]He told the Associated Press (AP) that the samples may provide details about "the kind of environment that could have been essential to the steps that lead from elements to life."
[05:26.92]He noted that combining the ingredients of life with an environment of sodium-rich water is "really the pathway to life." 
[05:38.27]He added the samples suggest the processes involving the chemical compounds "probably occurred much earlier and were much more widespread than we had thought before."
[05:54.65]Yasuhito Sekine is with the Institute of Science in Tokyo. 
[06:01.08]He did not take part in the new research.
[06:05.57]Sekine confirmed the findings were only made possible by examining samples "collected directly from the asteroid, then carefully preserved back on Earth."
[06:20.03]Jason Dworkin is a project scientist for the OSIRIS-REx mission at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. 
[06:32.12]He told Reuters news agency that all biology is made up of organic compounds. 
[06:40.41]And some of those may have survived 4.5 billion years.
[06:47.26]Dworkin said the materials from OSIRIS-REx provide new details about a solar system that might have had the right elements to support life.
[07:00.47]But he added that one of the most interesting questions, still remains: "Why we, so far, only see life on Earth and not elsewhere."
[07:15.51]I'm Bryan Lynn.