As Osiris Rex -- Now Called "Apex" In Extended Mission -- Sails Onward And Outward, We Have The First Confirmation That The Building Blocks For Life Are Likely Abundant In Dark Primordial Space.

The samples returned from Bennu (just like those JAXA returned from Ryugu) confirm that -- even in the fairly sterile, pre-life time-frames, here in what became our stable solar system, the main ingredients for the formation of long chain proteins -- and m-RNA and DNA -- were common in the outer reaches of the local area -- in the bits of rock and dust that became the Asteroid Belt, and ultimately, our planetary bodies, and moons.

While it is conjecture, it does seem a solid one -- to posit that these conditions prevail, in many if not most solar systems (we've now observed thousands of them, with JWST) -- ones with Goldilocks Zone exo-planets. Of course, many mysteries remain: like why is all amino acid life on Earth created on left-facing proteins, when there seemed to be a near equal number of right facing ones?

Even so, as we've long said -- those of us alive right now, and even many of you older than we are at the moment, are very likely to see definitive proof of the existence extra-terrestrial life (even if it is in a microscopic form, from Europa) -- before we personally wink out of existence. That will be the greatest scientific discovery, in the history. . . of history. Here's the latest on the amazing Bennu return results (just so far):

. . .In research papers published Wednesday in the journals Nature and Nature Astronomy, scientists from NASA and other institutions shared results of the first in-depth analyses of the minerals and molecules in the Bennu samples, which OSIRIS-REx delivered to Earth in 2023.

Detailed in the Nature Astronomy paper, among the most compelling detections were amino acids – 14 of the 20 that life on Earth uses to make proteins – and all five nucleobases that life on Earth uses to store and transmit genetic instructions in more complex terrestrial biomolecules, such as DNA and RNA, including how to arrange amino acids into proteins.

Scientists also described exceptionally high abundances of ammonia in the Bennu samples. Ammonia is important to biology because it can react with formaldehyde, which also was detected in the samples, to form complex molecules, such as amino acids – given the right conditions. When amino acids link up into long chains, they make proteins, which go on to power nearly every biological function. . . .

For all the answers the Bennu sample has provided, several questions remain. Many amino acids can be created in two mirror-image versions, like a pair of left and right hands. Life on Earth almost exclusively produces the left-handed variety, but the Bennu samples contain an equal mixture of both. This means that on early Earth, amino acids may have started out in an equal mixture, as well. The reason life “turned left” instead of right remains a mystery.

“OSIRIS-REx has been a highly successful mission,” said Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA Goddard and co-lead author on the Nature Astronomy paper. “Data from OSIRIS-REx adds major brushstrokes to a picture of a solar system teeming with the potential for life. Why we, so far, only see life on Earth and not elsewhere, that’s the truly tantalizing question. . . .”

Here's an explainer, on the sampling and return logistics, from a few years back -- at NASA:



Onward, and smiling now, at all the good karma and good science that Tangerine is now powerless -- to impede. The Europa Clipper is already well off, in flight, through the icy nights -- and well out of the reach of his pudgy clutches. Woot.

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