Water found in 4.5 billion year old Bennu Asteroid sample secret of Earth revealed

Asteroid Bennu contains water and carbon: US space agency NASA’s spacecraft OSIRIS-REx recently returned to Earth after a space journey of about 7 years. This spacecraft has brought with itself a sample of an asteroid named Bennu. Scientists examining samples of Bennu asteroid in a special room of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, America, have received important information. NASA has revealed that samples of the 4.5 billion year old Bennu asteroid contain abundant amounts of water and carbon, a key material involved in the formation of our planet. This discovery provides evidence for the theory that the foundation of life on Earth was laid from outer space.

According to NDTV report, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson Said The first analysis of the asteroid has shown that the sample contains abundant amounts of water. He said that this is the largest carbon-rich asteroid sample ever returned to Earth. It contains carbon in the form of both minerals and organic molecules.

The OSIRIS-REx mission took rock and dust samples from the Bennu asteroid in 2020. The spacecraft had returned to Earth just two weeks ago carrying the samples in a capsule. They are being analyzed at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The special thing is that before the OSIRIS-REx mission, Japan had also brought asteroid samples from space in the years 2010 and 2020. However, the Japanese mission brought only 5.4 grams of sample, while the NASA mission collected 250 grams of sample.

Why chose Bennu asteroid?

This asteroid revolves around the Sun every 1.2 years and comes closest to the Earth approximately every 6 years. This asteroid is large in size at 1614 feet. According to NASA, when this asteroid comes close to the Earth in the year 2135, there will be a slight change in its trajectory. It could potentially affect the Earth between the years 2175 and 2199. NASA thinks that similar asteroids collided with the Earth billions of years ago and brought many other things along with water to our planet.