And now it cant pop pop the jar.
In a press conference last month, OSIRIS-REx sample analyst Daniel Glavindescribed the asteroid bitsas an astrobiologists dream.
Theyve already identified carbon and water molecules.
The OSIRIS-REx sample canister, covered with bits of an ancient asteroid.Illustration: Vicky Leta
Heres what they had to say.
Butmeteorites that land on Earthare immediately contaminated by, well, Earth.
My goal is to compare the amino acids we find on Bennu to Earths early life.
It is a primitive asteroid,dating to the first 10-million-or-so yearsof the solar systems existence.
But its not quite as simple as that.
Whatever the chemical cocktail, Bennu may clue us into the ingredients.
Thats why the building blocks term kind of irks me.
Its more about the processes that those molecules are excited to do together.
And it may be that the processes of life can arise in very different suites of building blocks.
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Did Scientists Detect Life on Another Planet?
