Two science teams pored over samples from the B-type asteroid Bennu, finding chemicals linked to the beginnings of life and brine that is of interest for future space exploration.

Samples contain all five nucleobases of DNA and RNA, supporting theory that asteroids may have seeded Earth with life's essential ingredients.

Asteroid Bennu seems to have come from a long-lost world on the fringes of the solar system, where saltwater pooled and dried over thousands of years and life’s basic ingredients were widespread.

The study of asteroid samples is a highly lucrative area of research and one of the best ways to determine how the Solar System came to be. Given that asteroids are leftover material from the formation of the Solar System,

Analyzing a sample from an asteroid named Bennu reveals the chemicals necessary to form DNA and RNA.

Rock and dust samples brought back from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu contain organic matter, including amino acids and all five DNA and RNA bases, as well as salts that formed early in the history of Bennu's parent body.

Joint Press Release by Hokkaido University, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Kyushu University, Tohoku University, and

Japanese collaborators detected all five nucleobases — building blocks of DNA and RNA — in samples ... 121.6 grams of sample from asteroid (101955) Bennu in September 2023—the largest ...

Samples from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission show the asteroid Bennu had organic molecules and minerals and possibly salty water and other life ingredients.

CNN reports how new research from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center published to “Nature” has revealed that samples from the near-Earth asteroid, Bennu, contains organic compounds and minerals necessary for life to form. Among them are amino acids and components found in DNA.

REx brought back to Earth 121 grams of material from asteroid Bennu. This is the largest sample ever collected and brought back from a world beyond the Moon. Early analysis last year suggested that this asteroid originated in a water-rich world.