New analysis of asteroid dust reveals evidence of salt water in the early solar system.

In October 2020, a bans -size robot spacecraft temporarily touched the surface of Benne, a 525 -meter planet, 32 million kilometers from the earth.

As part of NASA’s OSIRIS-REX mission, spacecraft not only spent two years of imaging as an planet, but also collected valuable samples of dust and small rocks from the poor surface of Bennu.

In September 2023, capsules, including primitive asteroid samples, returned to Earth and landed in the US Utah Desert.

Since then, the international team, a scientist, has been busy studying about 120 grams collected from Benne.

Our survey results have been revealed in two new papers published in nature and nature on January 29. They may have once been in Benne’s core, providing new insights on the early solar system chemistry.

Wreckles of rocks from deep time

The asteroid is a fragmentary debris of the existing body from the beginning of the history of the solar system destroyed by a collision with other objects. They go around the sun and come with many different shapes, sizes, and chemical compositions.

Asteroid Benne focused on the osilline -like mission because the remote sensing observation from the earth was indicated as a type B asteroid. These asteroids are rich in carbon and hydration clay minerals, and may probably share similarities with the most primitive film films on Earth, probably known as carbonated chondlites.

Unlike the MET stone samples, the samples collected from asteroids are not physically or chemically modified by the atmosphere and living sphere of the earth. This allows you to work on important questions about the early solar system, planetary formation, and the evolution of the ingredients of life.

Another purpose of the OSIRIS-REX mission is to link the survey results from the laboratory sample to the sample of remote sensing techniques. This helps to improve the survey of the solar system by supporting the astronomical observation of asteroids.

Small crystals of salt mines

To prevent contamination, the sealed capsule, including samples, was stored in a huge glass box when it was returned to the earth. In this tank, rubber gloves were kept from the side so that scientists could handle samples without directly touching the sample. In addition, it was purged with nitrogen to eliminate moisture and oxygen from the earth’s atmosphere.

When I analyzed the inside of Benne’s dust particles, I was surprised to find a small saline and a small salt mine crystal known as a Sylvite.

This was a groundbreaking discovery.

Halite is very rare in MET stones. It has been found in only three of the hundreds of known MET stones on the earth. It is also known that Halite is very easy to melt. If you are exposed to air or water on the earth, it can be deteriorated immediately.

Other members of the OSIRIS-REX sample analysis team have identified other various salt mines in the Bennu sample. These contained sodium carbonate, sodium phosphate, sulfate, and fluoride.

These minerals are formed by the evaporation of salt water. This is the same as the sediment formed in the salt lake on the earth.

By comparing these results with the chemical configuration of the salt lake on the earth, photos of salt water that evaporated in the asteroid Bennne began to appear, leaving salt as evidence.

Various organic compounds

This discovery provides new insights on water activities at the earliest of the solar system. However, the existence of salt mines is important for another reason.

On the earth, these minerals are the formation of organic compounds such as nuclear foundations and nucleoside, that is, a prebiotic building block of land biology.

And, in fact, in another analysis of Bennu samples, other colleagues in the OSIRIS-REX mission have identified a wide variety of organic compounds on carbon and nitrogen asteroids.

These compounds contain 14 of the 20 amino acids found in the biological process of the earth. It also contains some amino acids that are known in all five nuclear focuses found in known biology, ammonia, and RNA and DNA.

Bennu did not detect life, but two new studies show that the Bennu’s central BRINY is suitable for assembling the components of life.

Continued survey

The survey results from the sample returned by the asteroid Benne may provide insights about what will happen in the distant ice body of our solar system.

These bodies include the Saturn’s Moon Encerados and Dwarf Planetary Ceres in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Both Encerados and Ceres are underground salt water. Can they probably have life?

We continue to investigate Bennu using the unsatisfactory samples collected in 2020. We are currently investigating the timing of Bennu’s parent body dissolution event and looking for evidence of the effects recorded by various minerals in the sample.

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