NASA reveals the first images of the asteroid material collected during the "picture-perfect" OSIRIS-REx mission led by the University of Arizona.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer) mission has detected amino acids in the largest asteroid sample ever collected in space, ...

Mirror, Mirror One study in Nature Astronomy detected all five of the nucleobases present in genetic material on Earth and 14 of the 20 amino acids that make up proteins. The asteroid also contained ...

But the space rock held even more secrets. Last week, scientists revealed the sample also included amino acids, considered the building blocks of life and other components found in DNA.

A sample of asteroid dirt brought back to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission contains amino acids and the nucleobases of RNA and DNA, plus brines that could have facilitated the formation of organic ...

These amazing discoveries would not have been possible without NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission. Pristine samples of asteroid Bennu have revealed something entirely unexpected — not only does the ...

The OSIRIS-REx mission returned to the sample to Earth in September of 2023, and these studies show that it contains amino acids, nucleobases, and minerals known as evaporites—all elements of ...

The homogeneity found among both is especially confounding to scientists because the left and right-handed versions of all ...

A view of the OSIRIS-REx sample canister, containing material from asteroid Bennu, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

Early analysis of asteroid samples from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission show the residue of an icy brine, and a soup of amino acids.

The OSIRIS-REx probe arrived at the 1,850-foot-wide asteroid in 2020, scooped up rock and dirt, and then jetted back to Earth. On Sept. 24, 2023, the OSIRIS-REx return capsule parachuted down to a ...

New samples from asteroid Bennu taken by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft could suggest that the conditions for life are not unique to Earth, according to NASA.