Abstract
Have you ever wondered what is inside an asteroid? NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission brought rock samples from the asteroid Bennu back to Earth. We were able to study some of them. We made sure our samples stayed clean and did not touch air or dirt from Earth. We used infrared light, X-rays, and powerful microscopes to see what the rocks were made of and how they looked inside.
We found very thin layers of an unusual plastic-like material inside our Bennu samples. Some layers were folded, suggesting that something pushed them around while they were soft. The material is rich in carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, which are important elements for life. We found evidence for complex chemical reactions that happened in space a long time ago! By comparing what we find in space with what we learn on Earth, scientists can begin to figure out more about the building blocks of life.
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