Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In 2023, we brought a sample of an asteroid called Bennu to Earth, part of a plan to study remnants of our early solar system. These grains of rock have shown that the building blocks of life and the conditions for making them existed on Bennu's parent body 4.5 billion years ago.
The Bennu samples contain amino acids -- the building blocks of proteins -- including 14 of the 20 that life uses to create proteins here on Earth. In addition, the samples contain all five of the nucleobases that encode genetic information in DNA and RNA.
The samples also contain minerals called evaporites, or salts, which exist on Earth, too. Evaporites are evidence that the larger body Bennu was once part of had a wet, salty environment. On Earth, scientists believe conditions like this played a role in life developing.
Although there is no evidence that life ever existed on Bennu or its parent body, the asteroid samples suggest that ingredients for life were widespread across the early solar system, and some may have made their way to Earth when asteroids bombarded our planet during its youth.
The samples contain other surprises as well. Some of those amino acids exist almost exclusively in one of two possible orientations on Earth. We expected to see some of this imbalance on Bennu, too. But the samples revealed an even mix of both molecule orientations, suggesting that something else in early life may have caused the imbalance.
Much of this science wouldn't have been possible to conduct in space, and traveling through Earth's atmosphere and landing on the ground changes fragments of asteroids, making meteorites an imperfect record of the solar system’s history. This means that sample return missions like OSIRIS-REx are a unique way to peek into our early solar system from the era of the origins of life.
Music credit: "Curiosity" from Universal Production Music
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio
Ryan Fitzgibbons (eMITS): Lead Producer, Lead Writer
Dan Gallagher (eMITS): Writer, Project Support
Katy Mersmann (NASA/GSFC): Producer, Project Support
Rob Andreoli (eMITS): Lead Videographer
John Philyaw (eMITS): Videographer
This video can be freely shared and downloaded at svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14769. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14769. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/.
If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: youtube.com/NASAGoddard
Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
· Instagram: instagram.com/nasagoddard
· X: twitter.com/NASAGoddard
· Facebook: facebook.com/NASAGoddard
· Flickr: flickr.com/photos/gsfc
In 2023, we brought a sample of an asteroid called Bennu to Earth, part of a plan to study remnants of our early solar system. These grains of rock have shown that the building blocks of life and the conditions for making them existed on Bennu's parent body 4.5 billion years ago.
The Bennu samples contain amino acids -- the building blocks of proteins -- including 14 of the 20 that life uses to create proteins here on Earth. In addition, the samples contain all five of the nucleobases that encode genetic information in DNA and RNA.
The samples also contain minerals called evaporites, or salts, which exist on Earth, too. Evaporites are evidence that the larger body Bennu was once part of had a wet, salty environment. On Earth, scientists believe conditions like this played a role in life developing.
Although there is no evidence that life ever existed on Bennu or its parent body, the asteroid samples suggest that ingredients for life were widespread across the early solar system, and some may have made their way to Earth when asteroids bombarded our planet during its youth.
The samples contain other surprises as well. Some of those amino acids exist almost exclusively in one of two possible orientations on Earth. We expected to see some of this imbalance on Bennu, too. But the samples revealed an even mix of both molecule orientations, suggesting that something else in early life may have caused the imbalance.
Much of this science wouldn't have been possible to conduct in space, and traveling through Earth's atmosphere and landing on the ground changes fragments of asteroids, making meteorites an imperfect record of the solar system’s history. This means that sample return missions like OSIRIS-REx are a unique way to peek into our early solar system from the era of the origins of life.
Music credit: "Curiosity" from Universal Production Music
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio
Ryan Fitzgibbons (eMITS): Lead Producer, Lead Writer
Dan Gallagher (eMITS): Writer, Project Support
Katy Mersmann (NASA/GSFC): Producer, Project Support
Rob Andreoli (eMITS): Lead Videographer
John Philyaw (eMITS): Videographer
This video can be freely shared and downloaded at svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14769. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14769. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/.
If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: youtube.com/NASAGoddard
Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
· Instagram: instagram.com/nasagoddard
· X: twitter.com/NASAGoddard
· Facebook: facebook.com/NASAGoddard
· Flickr: flickr.com/photos/gsfc
