Sugars, 'Gum,' Stardust Found In NASA's Asteroid Bennu Samples

NASA's OSIRIS-REx samples from asteroid Bennu have revealed bio-essential sugars, a never-before-seen 'space gum' polymer, and unusually high levels of supernova-origin dust. The findings bolster the RNA-world hypothesis, suggest complex organics formed early on Bennu's parent body, and show preserved presolar grains that escaped alteration for billions of years.

'All five nucleobases used to construct both DNA and RNA, along with phosphates, have already been found in the Bennu samples brought to Earth by OSIRIS-REx,' said lead scientist Yoshihiro Furukawa of Tohoku University. 'The new discovery of ribose means that all of the components to form the molecule RNA are present in Bennu.'

The findings have been published in three new papers by the journals Nature Geosciences and Nature Astronomy. NASA also published a video on YouTube detailing the discovery.

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