Rebecca Murrell
Appearances
Global News Podcast
US senators question Robert F Kennedy Jr at heated confirmation hearing
This was one of what I think is NASA's most audacious missions, where it flew a spacecraft to an asteroid called Bennu, this 500 metre sort of pile of rocks and rubble. And this spacecraft basically unfurled a robotic arm, grabbed a bit of asteroid, packed it into a capsule and sent it back to Earth. And it landed in the Utah desert in 2023.
Global News Podcast
US senators question Robert F Kennedy Jr at heated confirmation hearing
So about 100 grams was collected, which doesn't sound like very much at all. But every grain is a treasure trove. And it's been shared out with scientists around the world who've been studying it very intensely. And they've now completed their first analysis of it.
Global News Podcast
US senators question Robert F Kennedy Jr at heated confirmation hearing
Yeah, I mean, when you look at the asteroid, it kind of looks dark and barren with not much going on. But actually, when you start looking closely, it contains so much. So they found thousands of organic molecules. And these include some really important ones like amino acids, which are the molecules that make proteins.
Global News Podcast
US senators question Robert F Kennedy Jr at heated confirmation hearing
It's found nucleobases, which are ring-shaped molecules, the fundamental components of DNA. They've also found minerals, suggesting that the asteroid had water on it. And they found ammonia too, which is really important for biochemical reactions. So you start thinking, DNA, amino acids, does this mean Bennu had life on it? And the answer is no. I mean, that would be an amazing find.
Global News Podcast
US senators question Robert F Kennedy Jr at heated confirmation hearing
But scientists do think that asteroids like Bennu, that contain this rich array of minerals and organic molecules, they think asteroids were really important for delivering these sort of ingredients to Earth. And that would have been through asteroid impacts really early on. Like the one that killed the dinosaurs? Exactly. But way before that.
Global News Podcast
US senators question Robert F Kennedy Jr at heated confirmation hearing
So the solar system was formed about four and a half billion years ago. It's this great big swirling cloud of gas and dust. And around this time after the planets were formed, there were loads of these asteroids basically whizzing about all over the place. And lots of them were bombarding the Earth. So there was ample opportunity for these ingredients to be carried to us.
Global News Podcast
US senators question Robert F Kennedy Jr at heated confirmation hearing
In that case, there could be other planets in which the same thing has happened. Yeah, that's right. So, you know, Earth wasn't the only place being bombarded with asteroids. These asteroids were striking planets all over the place. And this offers up a really interesting question, you know.
Global News Podcast
US senators question Robert F Kennedy Jr at heated confirmation hearing
Is there something really unique about the Earth and this particular set of circumstances which sparked life, you know, when life began? Or... Did life happen? Did it begin on other planets, moons of planets perhaps too, and then fizzled out? Or is it still there and we just don't know about it? So it's really a very intriguing finding and there's so much research still to do on Bennu.
Global News Podcast
US senators question Robert F Kennedy Jr at heated confirmation hearing
They've only just literally been sort of touching the surface of these grains. There's loads more to understand but also loads of places to visit too to kind of see what's happening there. Rebecca Murrell.