Asteroid โBennu Yields Sugars, Ancient Stardust, Bolstering Life-Origin Theories
TUCSON, AZ – December 3, 2025 – โฃNASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has delivered a cosmic jackpot: scientists โhave discovered ribose andโ glucose – sugars essential to life – โขwithin samples retrieved from asteroid Bennu. This marks the first time glucose has been identified in an โextraterrestrial sample, alongside previouslyโค detectedโ nucleobases and phosphates, confirming the presence of allโ the building blocks of RNA on the asteroid.The findings, published in Nature and announced today, โsuggest asteroids like Bennuโ may have seeded Earth – and potentiallyโค other worlds – withโค the basic components for โฃlife.
The findingโ isn’t just about sugars.โข Analyses also reveal a โsurprising abundance of dust originatingโข from supernovae – stars that โขexploded before our solar system even formed. This ancient stardust, coupled with the organic molecules, paints a picture of Bennu as a time capsule preserving materialsโ from the early universe, offering unprecedented insight into the โขconditions โคthat โmay have given rise to life.โ Theโฃ presence โคofโฃ ribose, but not deoxyribose, further supports the theory that RNA, not DNA, was the primary genetic material in early life forms.
Led by Ann Nguyenโค at NASA, the investigation confirms that Bennu harbors materials older than our โSun. “While this may no longer be directly related to the ‘ingredients for life,’ it suggests that Bennu is โฃharbored by โparticlesโ older than the Sun and may hold the keyโ to understandingโ the compositionโค of the early universe,” Nguyen stated. โฃ
The asteroid samples,collected in 2020 and returned to Earth in September 2023,are undergoing extensive analysis. Scientists believe Bennu’s carbon-rich composition and its location in theโฃ inner solar โsystem duringโ Earth’s early history made it a likely delivery vehicle โคfor these crucial compounds.The finding strengthens the hypothesis that asteroids playedโข a pivotal role in delivering the raw materials necessary for life to emerge on our planet, and potentially โขelsewhere in โthe solar โsystem.