The question of whether life exists beyond Earth is one of humanity’s oldest and moast compelling inquiries. Now, analysis of samples collected from the asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is yielding potentially groundbreaking insights. Scientists have confirmed the presence of ribose and glucose – sugars vital for life as we know it – within the asteroid’s remarkably well-preserved material. These findings,representing the first revelation of sugars in an extraterrestrial sample,bolster the theory that the building blocks of life may be widespread throughout the solar system.
Could life exist beyond Earth? That’s a question scientists have long sought to answer, and new findings from samples collected from the asteroid Bennu are offering tantalizing clues. NASA recently announced the discovery of sugars – essential building blocks of life – within pristine samples retrieved from the carbon-rich asteroid.
The research, conducted by a joint team of Japanese and American scientists, identified the presence of ribose and glucose in the Bennu samples. This discovery marks a significant step forward in understanding the origins of life and the potential for its existence elsewhere in the solar system.
“The fact that we’ve found ribose and glucose is incredibly exciting, because ribose is actually a fundamental component of nucleic acids. It makes up the sugar-phosphate backbone of RNA,” explained Daniel Glavin, NASA scientist and OSIRIS-REx co-investigator. “And glucose is a vital energy source for all known life. To find glucose in an extraterrestrial material for the first time is a huge surprise – we really weren’t expecting that in the Bennu asteroid samples.”
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft launched in 2016 to collect samples from Bennu. The spacecraft successfully delivered the samples to Earth in 2023 for study by researchers worldwide. Previous analyses of the Bennu samples revealed the presence of amino acids, nucleobases, and phosphate, but lacked evidence of sugars. The identification of ribose now completes the set of key components needed to form RNA.
“This new discovery of ribose means that all the components needed to build RNA molecules were present on the Bennu asteroid,” said Yoshihiro Furukawa of Tohoku University in Japan, who led the research.
Scientists believe that the presence of all major life-building components suggests these elements are widespread throughout the solar system, potentially seeding life not only on Earth but also on other celestial bodies. The findings could reshape our understanding of panspermia – the hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe and is distributed by space dust, meteoroids, asteroids, comets, and planetoids.
“These building blocks may have been able to give rise to life not only on Earth, but also on other places, like Mars, Europa, and throughout the outer solar system,” Glavin added. “I’m increasingly optimistic that we may find life beyond Earth, perhaps even within our own solar system.”
A Mysterious Ancient ‘Glue’
In addition to the sugar discovery, a separate team led by Zac Gainsforth at NASA’s Ames Research Center (located in Silicon Valley, California) identified a previously unknown, glue-like substance within the Bennu samples. This finding adds another layer of complexity to the asteroid’s composition and its potential role in the origins of life.
The ancient “space glue,” once soft and pliable, has since hardened. It’s composed of nitrogen- and oxygen-rich polymeric material, and scientists believe these complex molecules could have provided chemical precursors that spurred the emergence of life on Earth. The discovery of these materials in pristine Bennu samples is crucial for studying the origins of life and the potential for life beyond Earth.
About the Bennu Asteroid
Formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago, the Bennu asteroid is an ancient, carbon-rich space rock named after the Egyptian heron god. Its composition makes it a prime target for scientists studying the early solar system and the building blocks of life.
Unlike meteorite samples, which are altered by atmospheric entry and terrestrial contamination, samples collected directly from an asteroid preserve their original state. According to NASA, Bennu represents a “pristine relic preserved in the vacuum of space.” This preservation allows scientists to analyze the asteroid’s composition with minimal alteration, providing invaluable insights into the conditions of the early solar system.
本文網址: https://www.ntdtv.com/b5/2025/12/06/a104044634.html
