"Blew Us Away": Experts On Life-Building Chemicals In Asteroid Bennu Samples Named after an Egyptian bird, Bennu contains special minerals such as salts, phosphates, ammonia and dozens of protein ...

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission returned samples from asteroid Bennu, which showed discoveries about life and the early solar system. These findings can now provide information into the potential ...

Bennu isn’t likely to hit Earth — but if it did, here’s what would happen Although classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid, Bennu probably won't hit Earth.

Life on Earth relies on molecular building blocks to make DNA and proteins. Scientists have long wondered how prevalent these precursors were at the birth of our solar system. A sample of dust and ...

Asteroid Bennu wasn’t what NASA expected. Instead of a smooth surface for sample collection, OSIRIS-REx encountered a chaotic, rocky terrain that made its mission incredibly difficult. This ...

An impact from Bennu would be very destructive, but Earth has seen worse. Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid that was roughly 6 miles wide (10 kilometers across) struck Earth, killing most ...

Asteroid Bennu seems to have come from a long-lost world on the fringes of the solar system, where saltwater pooled and dried over thousands of years and life’s basic ingredients were widespread.

Indeed, scientists say there is a remote possibility of Bennu impacting Earth in the distant future: There is a 0.037 percent chance it will hit Earth in 2182, as well as a 1 out of 1,750 chance ...

Bennu was attractive as a sample return target for a number of reasons. First, its close proximity to Earth made it relatively easy to reach. Its slow rotation meant that it wouldn’t have flung ...

Bennu — a rubble pile just one-third of a mile (one-half of a kilometer) across — was originally part of a much larger asteroid that got clobbered by other space rocks.

In 2018, the OSIRIS-REx mission arrived at the near-Earth asteroid Bennu to collect pristine samples, untouched by alterations induced by Earth's atmosphere, to be analyzed on Earth.

An evaporite sequence from ancient brine recorded in Bennu samples. Nature, 2025; 637 (8048): 1072 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08495-6 ...