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

Produced by: Manoj Kumar

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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.

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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.

Bringing Bennu Home

Pristine Evidence

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

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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.

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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.

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Asteroid Water

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

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Cosmic Collision

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

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Advanced Tools

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