Scientists have already found several revelations studying material from the asteroid sample brought back to Earth by the OSIRIS-REx mission.

Launched back in 2016, a spacecraft traveled to near-Earth asteroid Bennu and collected a large sample of rocks and dust from the surface. This first U.S. mission to collect a sample directly from an asteroid delivered its payload back to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023.

At last, early analysis of the sample of asteroid Bennu returned by NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission has revealed dust rich in carbon, nitrogen, and organic compounds, all of which are essential components for life as we know it.

What's more, Bennu appears to be from an oceanic home.

This combination, mostly comprising clay minerals, particularly serpentine, mirrors the type of rock found on Earth where material from the mantle, the layer beneath Earth's crust, encounters the sea.

The magnesium-sodium phosphates found in the sample raise questions about the geochemical processes that concentrated these elements and have provided further clues about Bennu's origin – which is likely from a primitive ocean world.

NASA

A tiny fraction of the asteroid Bennu sample returned by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission shows a dark Bennu particle, about a millimeter long, with an outer crust of bright phosphate.

The phosphates were a surprise to the team because the mineral had not been detected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft while at Bennu collecting the sample.

"The presence and state of phosphates, along with other elements and compounds on Bennu, suggest a watery past for the asteroid," said Dante Lauretta, co-lead author of the analysis published in Meteoritics & Planetary Science and principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona, Tucson. "Bennu potentially could have once been part of a wetter world. Although, this hypothesis requires further investigation. These findings underscore the importance of collecting and studying material from asteroids like Bennu – especially low-density material that would typically burn up upon entering Earth's atmosphere."

"OSIRIS-REx gave us exactly what we hoped: a large pristine asteroid sample rich in nitrogen and carbon from a formerly wet world," added Jason Dworkin, a co-author on the paper and the OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

While a similar phosphate was found in the asteroid Ryugu sample delivered by JAXA's (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Hayabusa2 mission in 2020, the magnesium-sodium phosphate detected in the Bennu sample stands out for its purity and the size of its grains, unprecedented in any meteorite sample.

The sample appears to be packed with clays and other mineral assemblages that are clear signs of dynamic geological transformations and interactions that gave rise to a variety of minerals like carbonates, iron oxides, and iron sulfides. But the most unexpected discovery is the presence of water-soluble phosphates. These compounds are components of biochemistry for all known life on Earth today.

Dozens more labs in the U.S. and worldwide will receive portions of the Bennu sample from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in the coming months, with further scientific papers expected in the next few years from these and the OSIRIS-REx Sample Analysis Team.

"The Bennu samples are tantalizingly beautiful extraterrestrial rocks," said Harold Connolly, OSIRIS-REx mission sample scientist at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. "Each week, analysis by the OSIRIS-REx Sample Analysis Team provides new and sometimes surprising findings that are helping place important constraints on the origin and evolution of Earth-like planets."

While asteroid mining is still the focus of a rare few forward-thinking companies and investors, the thought of moving phosphate processing into space might be enough to thrill enthusiasts and inspire further innovation.