A remarkably preserved asteroid sample, akin to a time capsule from the early stages of our solar system, has been unveiled.

According to NASA administrator Bill Nelson, the collected rocks and dust contain water and a significant amount of carbon.

This discovery implies that asteroids may have transported the fundamental elements necessary for life to Earth, CNN reported.

The sample is found to contain nearly 5% carbon by weight, representing one of the highest concentrations of carbon ever studied in an asteroid, as noted by Dr. Jason Dworkin, the OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

“Far exceeding our goal of 60 grams, this is the biggest carbon-rich asteroid sample ever returned to Earth,” Nelson said. “The carbon and water molecules are exactly the kinds of material that we wanted to find. They’re crucial elements in the formation of our own planet. And they’re going to help us determine the origin of elements that could have led to life.”

This sample was obtained from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, which is around 4.5 billion years old.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission collected the sample in October 2020, and it arrived on Earth within a capsule on September 24. The capsule separated from the spacecraft and safely landed in the Utah desert.

Written by staff