In a discovery that could change how science understands the origins of life on Earth, NASA announced that the OSIRIS-REx mission has returned to Earth samples from the asteroid Bennu that contain sugars essential to life, including ribose and glucose. The international team of scientists, led by Professor Yoshihiro Furukawa of Tohoku University in Japan, confirmed that ribose, a five-carbon sugar essential for RNA synthesis, is present in the Bennu material. Although ribose has been identified previously in meteorites that have fallen to Earth, this is the first time it has been directly detected in a sample taken from an asteroid.
According to Furukawa, "the discovery of ribose means that all the key building blocks for RNA are found on Bennu." This supports the "RNA universe" theory, which suggests that RNA was the first molecule to carry genetic information and catalyze chemical reactions long before DNA.
In addition to the sugars, the scientists also found an unusual organic sticky material, somewhat informally called “space glue,” which contained nitrogen and oxygen. This material was created by thermal processes in Bennu’s ancient parent rock and may have played a role in the formation of complex organic molecules on the early Earth.
Scott Sanford of the Ames Research Center said this material could represent one of the oldest chemical transformations dictated by an asteroid, providing a rare window into the chemistry of the primitive solar system.
The samples from Bennu also contained unusual amounts of material produced by supernova explosions, about six times more than expected. This reveals valuable information about the processes that formed our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago.
The asteroid Bennu, which approaches Earth every six years, remains one of the most studied objects in space because of its primitive composition and scientific importance. Despite its scientific value, Bennu also poses a small risk: NASA warns that there is a 1 in 2,700 chance that the asteroid will hit Earth in 2182. However, experts emphasize that these probabilities may change with further studies.
