In 2020, the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security-Regolith Explorer spacecraft managed to briefly land on the asteroid Bennu, steal some of its pristine material, and then return it to Earth in September 2023. This n is not the case. This is the first time a spacecraft has flown material from an asteroid (Japan has done it twice), but OSIRIS-REx’s 121.6 grams of asteroid grains are by far the most large sample of virgin material never recovered.
Asteroids are the debris left behind by the violent formation of the solar system. These building blocks not only contain the minerals needed to make planets.—including the Earth, but also the chemistry that created our seas and oceans, and perhaps even the compounds that gave rise to the very first forms of life.
This year, scientists got their first look at the OSIRIS-REx sample and they are impressed what it tells them: the Sun was forged by the death of several stars, from those of low mass to those large enough to explode in the form of powerful supernovae; strange molecules in the sample suggest it came from a destroyed geologically active world; and a range of prebiotic compounds, including all kinds of amino acids, have been discovered in this primitive asteroid.
In short, this sample is already rewriting what we know about the origins of the solar system – and scientists have only studied one percent of it. Who knows what else he has in store for us?
Artificial intelligence unlocks the secrets of proteins
As AI becomes more of a part of our lives, it is viewed with more suspicion, but this year it became clear that it would help reveal how life itself works.