Bennu asteroid samples provide clues about solar system origins and 'space gum'

Samples taken from the asteroid Bennu are continuing to shed light on the origins of the solar system.

Scientists have been studying the samples since NASA's Osiris-REx spacecraft carried them back to Earth in 2020 and recently discovered that that they contain sugars and "a gum-like substance not seen before in astromaterials," NASA said.

The revelations — and how they can help answer big questions about the beginnings of life — are described in three new papers published Tuesday by the journals Nature Geosciences and Nature Astronomy.

Science