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NASA revealed on Wednesday (Oct 11) that a sample collected from asteroid Bennu contains abundant water and carbon. Both of these are vital materials involved in the formation of Earth. This finding lends more weight to the hypothesis that foundational blocks for life on Earth was seeded from outer space.

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The sample scooped from the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid is the largest soil sample ever to be taken from the surface of an asteroid.

The big unveiling

Asteroid sample collected by the OSRIS-REx spacecraft three years ago was unveiled at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

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This comes just a little more than two weeks after the sample made it to Earth. It parachuted down in the Utah desert.

Also read | Explained | NASA sends Bennu asteroid samples to Earth. Here's why the celestial cargo matters

"The first analysis shows samples that contain abundant water in the form of hydrated clay minerals," NASA chief Bill Nelson said in a press event. 

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"This is the biggest carbon rich asteroid sample ever returned to Earth," he said, with the carbon contained in the form of both minerals and organic molecules.

Why is this asteroid sample significant?

This is only the third Asteroid sample, and by far the biggest, to return to Earth for analysis. Earlier, Japan, via its two similar missions, had retrieved the much smaller asteroid samples.

At the time of its landing, the Bennu sample, as per estimates, weighed about 100 to 250 grams (3.5 to 8.8 ounces).

Also read | US Federal Aviation Administration proposes revolutionary way to limit human litter in Earth's orbit

Before this, both the capsule and its contents were under examination in a "clean room" at the Utah Test and Training range near the landing site. 

Following that, the capsule was transported to the Johnson centre, where its inner canister was opened. This was done so that samples could be parcelled into smaller specimens. These specimens will go to some 200 scientists in 60 laboratories around the world, reports Reuters.

The Asteroid behind it all

The celestial samples were collected a year ago from Bennu, a small, carbon-rich asteroid that was discovered in 1999.

Classified as a "near-Earth object", Bennu passes relatively close to the Earth every six years.

The asteroid is made up of a loose collection of rocks and is rich in carbon, which is the building block of life on Earth.

Bennu measures just 500 metres or 1,640 feet in diameter, which means it is tiny compared to the Chicxulub asteroid that some 66 million years ago struck Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs. 

Even though Bennu passes by Earth every few years, the odds of an impact are considered remote, but not zero.

Scientists estimate that the asteroid could catastrophically collide with Earth. They estimate that the catastrophe which has a one in 2,700 chance of happening will not take place till the year 2182. This is another reason why understanding Bennu's composition can come in handy.

(With inputs from agencies)