NASA Confirms Bennu Asteroid Holds All Building Blocks for DNA and Life

CLEVELAND 13 (WCTU) — Scientists have confirmed groundbreaking findings from a sample collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which retrieved material from asteroid Bennu, located about 63 million kilometers from Earth. Early analysis of the sample revealed a treasure trove of prebiotic chemicals, including 14 of the 20 amino acids that life on Earth uses to build proteins, all five nucleotide bases required for DNA and RNA, and minerals that form in salty, evaporating water.

“This is a time capsule from the early solar system,” said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator of the OSIRIS-REx mission, during a NASA briefing. “The chemistry we’re seeing suggests Bennu’s parent body may have once had a salty ocean and contained many of the building blocks essential for life.”

Launched on September 8, 2016, OSIRIS-REx reached Bennu in December 2018. Using its TAGSAM arm, the spacecraft performed a touch-and-go maneuver in October 2020 to collect about 120 grams of surface material. It successfully delivered the sample to Earth on September 24, 2023, landing in Utah before being transferred to specialized laboratories for analysis.

Researchers found not only amino acids but also adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine, and uracil—the five nucleobases necessary for life as we know it. The amino acids discovered were racemic, meaning they are a mix of left- and right-handed forms, which indicates they formed naturally in space and were not the result of Earth-based contamination.

Analysis also revealed 11 types of salt-bearing minerals, including carbonates and sulfates, suggesting Bennu’s parent body once had evaporating brines. Scientists believe this indicates the asteroid was once part of a larger ancient ocean world. The sample is rich in carbon, nitrogen, and other organic compounds, pointing to a diverse prebiotic chemistry.

“These findings give strong evidence that asteroids like Bennu may have delivered key ingredients for life to the early Earth,” Lauretta said. “This reinforces the idea that the seeds of life are widespread in our solar system.”

Although no DNA or RNA was found, scientists emphasize that these building blocks alone are significant. Ongoing analysis will continue for years, with international teams comparing Bennu’s chemistry to other asteroid samples, such as those from Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission to asteroid Ryugu. Future missions like OSIRIS-APEX, which will study the asteroid Apophis in 2029, aim to expand this understanding.

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