‘Untouched by Earth’: Asteroid Bennu’s salts may hold clue to a billion-year-old puzzle

Produced by: Manoj Kumar

Ancient Brines

Asteroid Bennu samples contain halite, a common salt, hinting at past briny environments suitable for forming organic molecules. A cosmic recipe for life’s origins?

Extraterrestrial Salts

Curtin researchers found pristine salts, confirming their extraterrestrial origin, untouched by Earth’s contamination. A glimpse into untouched cosmic chemistry.

Bennu’s Parent

Bennu’s fragments stem from a 4.5-billion-year-old body formed beyond Saturn and destroyed in a collision. A story of cosmic violence and creation.

Pristine Evidence

Sealed in nitrogen, Bennu samples avoided Earthly contamination, preserving clues about ancient water activity in the solar system.

Icy Connections

Findings suggest processes on Bennu’s parent body resemble those on icy moons like Enceladus, raising questions about potential life in distant oceans.

Briny Origins

Evaporite minerals, like those in Earth’s salt lakes, suggest Bennu’s parent body hosted conditions perfect for assembling life’s building blocks.

Asteroid Water

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx detected signs of water on Bennu through hydrated minerals, pointing to a wet and dynamic past in space.

Cosmic Collision

Bennu was shaped by violent space events. Its rubble-pile structure holds materials from the solar system’s earliest moments.

Advanced Tools

Curtin’s state-of-the-art instruments validated extraterrestrial salts, cementing the discovery as one of the most significant in planetary science.