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matter? Understanding how life’s building blocks might have formed could provide crucial insights into how life began on Earth — and potentially how it might exist elsewhere in the universe.
“Understanding the chemical properties of life helps us know what to look for in our search for life across the solar system,” explains NASA scientist Jason Dworkin.
, which collected samples from the asteroid Bennu and delivered them to Earth in 2023. These materials are believed to contain remnants from the solar system’s formation roughly 4.5 billion years ago.
“We are analyzing OSIRIS-REx samples for the chirality (handedness) of individual amino acids, and in the future, samples from Mars will also be tested in laboratories for evidence of life including ribozymes and proteins,” Dworkin notes.
itself.
