Overview
- Scientists report ribose and glucose in Bennu material analyzed in Nature journal studies, marking the first ribose confirmed from a directly sampled asteroid.
- The sugars complement earlier OSIRIS-REx findings of all five nucleobases and phosphates in the carefully curated samples.
- Researchers describe a nitrogen- and oxygen-rich polymeric “space gum” that likely formed during early thermal processing on Bennu’s parent body.
- Analyses indicate Bennu holds an unusually high abundance of presolar stardust, reported as roughly six times that seen in other space rocks.
- Study teams stress these organics are prebiotic building blocks rather than evidence of extraterrestrial life.