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 ...

In October 2020, a van-sized robotic spacecraft briefly touched down on the surface of Bennu, a 525-meter-wide asteroid 320 million kilometers from Earth. As part of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, the ...

SEE ALSO: NASA's asteroid sample reveals key chemistry that could lead to life Researcher Jason Dworkin holds up a vial containing a Bennu sample. Credit: NASA / James Tralie Many amino acids ...

In 2018, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission reached asteroid 101955 Bennu. Two years later, the spacecraft snagged a sample of its surface, which has since been returned to Earth. Now, astronomers are ...

Analysing returned samples Tim McCoy (right), curator of meteorites at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, and research geologist Cari Corrigan examine scanning electron microscope ...

Asteroid Bennu, as imaged by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft's camera. (NASA Goddard) Collected in October of 2020, this sample was the very first NASA ever returned from an asteroid for study by ...

Scientists recently completed computer simulations of what would happen to Earth if it were impacted by an asteroid with a diameter the size of the ...

In 2018, NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission reached asteroid 101955 Bennu. Two years later, the spacecraft snagged a sample of its surface, which has since been returned to Earth. Now, astronomers are getting ...

The two previous asteroid sample missions, by Japan, yielded considerably less material.Small amounts of Bennu's precious black grains — leftovers from the solar system's formation 4.5 billion ...