NASA detects compounds essential for life on the ancient asteroid Bennu

NASA announced the discovery of sugars essential for life on Earth in samples from the asteroid Bennu, which dates back to 4.6 billion years ago.

Through an analysis, scientists discovered the presence of glucose – the main source of energy in the human body – and ribose, a fundamental component of RNA.

This latest discovery is especially relevant: it is the first time that ribose has been detected in a sample of extraterrestrial origin.

Although these compounds do not constitute proof of life outside the planet, the space agency highlighted that the finding confirms something key: the fundamental ingredients for the chemistry of life are widely distributed in the solar system.

The samples were collected in 2020 by the ship Osiris-RExduring his visit to the asteroid Bennu, which has a diameter of approximately 500 meters. Subsequently, the mission, which had taken off in 2016, completed its return to Earth in 2023. Since then, the recovered material has been subjected to a rigorous series of tests and analysis.

Discovered in 1999 by scientists from New Mexico, Bennu – whose size is comparable to that of the Empire State Building in New York – is moving through space about 260 million kilometers from Earth, according to the specialized application The Sky Live.

Furthermore, “the five nucleobases that form both DNA and RNA, along with phosphates, had already been identified in Bennu samples brought to Earth by Osiris-REx”said Yoshihiro Furukawa, a researcher at Tohoku University in Japan.

Now, with the discovery of ribose, “Bennu contains all the components necessary to form the RNA molecule,” he added.

Furthermore, earlier this year, NASA reported that it had found signs of ancient microbial life in samples from Mars.

NASA noted that the discovery of ribose was not unexpected, as this sugar had previously been detected in meteorites recovered from Earth in 2019.

However, the absence of deoxyribose – a key component of DNA – also raised eyebrows, because of what it could reveal about the origins of life.

This contrast suggests that ribose may have been more abundant than deoxyribose in early solar system environments, which in turn reinforces the hypothesis that early life forms depended on RNA for survival.

“Current life is based on a complex system organized mainly by three types of functional biopolymers: DNA, RNA and proteins,” Furukawa explained. And he added: “Although primitive life could have been simpler.”

Sugars weren’t the only surprising find in samples collected from the asteroid. In fact, scientists also identified a substance described as an ancient and mysterious “space gum,” something never before observed in rocks from space.

According to NASA, it is a translucent material, with a texture similar to rubber or plastic, that may have played a role in the formation of life on Earth. Likewise, it is believed that this substance originated in the early stages of the solar system.

For its part, the “parent” asteroid from which Bennu emerged would have formed from materials present in the primordial cloud of gas and dust that, over time, gave rise to our solar system.

Through previous research, scientists showed that Bennu’s parent asteroid survived various chemical processes related to heat and water during the formation of the solar system.

As this ancient body began to heat up from radiation, a chemical compound known as carbamate was generated. This subsequently reacted with other molecules, giving rise to the flexible “rubber”-like substance that the researchers identified in the samples.

“With this very strange substance, we are observing, most likely, one of the first material transformations that occurred in this rock,” said Scott Sandford, a scientist at NASA Ames Research Center.

In other words, “on this primitive asteroid, formed in the early days of the solar system, we are seeing events close to the beginning of the beginning,” he added.