1 00:00:15,482 --> 00:00:17,851 Welcome to NASA Science Live. 2 00:00:17,851 --> 00:00:19,986 I'm your host Tahira Allen. 3 00:00:19,986 --> 00:00:22,956 Today, we're going to talk to experts about the big news 4 00:00:22,956 --> 00:00:25,392 that scientists have detected the molecular 5 00:00:25,392 --> 00:00:28,795 building blocks of life in samples from asteroid Bennu, 6 00:00:29,195 --> 00:00:30,530 which were brought back to Earth 7 00:00:30,530 --> 00:00:33,867 in 2023 by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. 8 00:00:34,434 --> 00:00:37,370 What's really exciting here is that the discovery 9 00:00:37,370 --> 00:00:39,739 of an environment that would have allowed 10 00:00:39,739 --> 00:00:43,476 for these molecules to flourish were also seen. 11 00:00:43,910 --> 00:00:45,879 So but more on that soon. 12 00:00:45,879 --> 00:00:48,648 This is your chance to interact with NASA experts 13 00:00:48,648 --> 00:00:51,551 and have your questions answered in real time. 14 00:00:51,551 --> 00:00:53,420 So send them in using the hashtag. 15 00:00:53,420 --> 00:00:56,423 Ask NASA in the comments wherever you're watching. 16 00:00:57,290 --> 00:01:00,894 In September 2023, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft 17 00:01:00,894 --> 00:01:02,962 returned to Earth carrying material 18 00:01:02,962 --> 00:01:05,298 it collected from asteroid Bennu. 19 00:01:05,298 --> 00:01:08,868 One reason Bennu was selected for our sample return was due 20 00:01:08,868 --> 00:01:10,503 to its composition. 21 00:01:10,503 --> 00:01:12,472 After initial study by the spacecraft, 22 00:01:12,472 --> 00:01:16,076 we found the asteroid to be rich in carbon based molecules 23 00:01:16,076 --> 00:01:19,079 like organics, which is the stuff of life. 24 00:01:19,446 --> 00:01:22,482 Bennu is also a primitive asteroid that serves 25 00:01:22,482 --> 00:01:23,583 as a time capsule 26 00:01:23,583 --> 00:01:26,853 for preserving materials from the dawn of the Solar System. 27 00:01:27,620 --> 00:01:29,889 Since the sample has returned, scientists 28 00:01:29,889 --> 00:01:33,126 have been studying the captured materials in labs on Earth. 29 00:01:33,660 --> 00:01:36,930 Now, their findings show that Bennu comes from a wet world 30 00:01:36,930 --> 00:01:39,933 that formed in the coldest regions of the solar system, 31 00:01:40,166 --> 00:01:43,069 likely beyond the orbit of Saturn and nearly 32 00:01:43,069 --> 00:01:46,039 4.6 billion years ago. 33 00:01:46,172 --> 00:01:49,209 Scientists were surprised to find that the asteroid sample 34 00:01:49,209 --> 00:01:53,213 held such a complete library of minerals that precipitated 35 00:01:53,213 --> 00:01:56,015 from the evaporation of salty water, 36 00:01:56,015 --> 00:01:59,419 many of which are similar to minerals found from dried, 37 00:01:59,419 --> 00:02:03,389 briny lakes on Earth like Lake Ceres in California's 38 00:02:03,389 --> 00:02:04,357 Mojave Desert. 39 00:02:05,525 --> 00:02:08,928 We are keeping an eye on the questions pouring in online 40 00:02:08,928 --> 00:02:11,064 and will bring them straight to our experts 41 00:02:11,064 --> 00:02:13,199 live on air later on in the show. 42 00:02:13,199 --> 00:02:15,268 We also have experts in the comments 43 00:02:15,268 --> 00:02:18,404 standing by to answer your questions in real time. 44 00:02:18,972 --> 00:02:21,975 So let's jump right in. 45 00:02:22,008 --> 00:02:24,744 With us now is Doctor Danny Glavin. 46 00:02:24,744 --> 00:02:27,013 He is the OSIRIS-REx sample organics 47 00:02:27,013 --> 00:02:30,016 lead and senior scientist at NASA Goddard. 48 00:02:30,183 --> 00:02:32,552 We also have Professor Sara Russell. 49 00:02:32,552 --> 00:02:35,889 She is a cosmic mineralogist at the Natural History 50 00:02:35,989 --> 00:02:37,924 History Museum in London. 51 00:02:37,924 --> 00:02:39,859 Thank you both so much for being here 52 00:02:39,859 --> 00:02:41,594 with us today, and congratulations 53 00:02:41,594 --> 00:02:43,463 on the discoveries in this sample. 54 00:02:43,463 --> 00:02:45,231 I think times it really is. 55 00:02:45,231 --> 00:02:48,101 So before we jump in to the exciting times, 56 00:02:48,101 --> 00:02:50,770 can you tell us a little bit about your roles? 57 00:02:50,770 --> 00:02:52,238 Danny, why don't you go first? 58 00:02:52,238 --> 00:02:52,472 Yeah. 59 00:02:52,472 --> 00:02:53,573 So I'm Danny Glavin, 60 00:02:53,573 --> 00:02:56,309 I work at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, 61 00:02:56,309 --> 00:02:58,978 and I'm leading the Sample Organics analysis team, 62 00:02:58,978 --> 00:03:01,381 which is a group of about 60 scientists 63 00:03:01,381 --> 00:03:03,449 from around the world who've been looking at these 64 00:03:03,449 --> 00:03:06,653 these pristine, precious samples from space is just amazing. 65 00:03:07,086 --> 00:03:09,923 And, Sarah, so my name is Sarah Russell. 66 00:03:09,923 --> 00:03:11,124 And, my day 67 00:03:11,124 --> 00:03:14,327 job is looking at meteorites in the Natural History Museum 68 00:03:14,594 --> 00:03:15,161 in London. 69 00:03:15,161 --> 00:03:17,330 But I've been part of the mineralogy team, 70 00:03:17,330 --> 00:03:20,133 which, again, is a team of scientists from around the world 71 00:03:20,133 --> 00:03:22,869 who've been looking at what Bennu's made of. 72 00:03:22,869 --> 00:03:24,737 Very cool job. 73 00:03:24,737 --> 00:03:26,506 Thank you both so much for being here with us. 74 00:03:26,506 --> 00:03:29,509 So let's get into the main topic of today's show. 75 00:03:29,576 --> 00:03:32,345 And that is the asteroid sample brought to Earth 76 00:03:32,345 --> 00:03:34,314 by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. 77 00:03:34,314 --> 00:03:37,116 Now, there are two big things here, right? 78 00:03:37,116 --> 00:03:39,052 Scientists found the key ingredients 79 00:03:39,052 --> 00:03:40,587 for life in the sample, 80 00:03:40,587 --> 00:03:42,889 but they also found an environment 81 00:03:42,889 --> 00:03:44,591 that is really conducive 82 00:03:44,591 --> 00:03:45,592 to fostering 83 00:03:45,592 --> 00:03:48,294 the type of chemical reactions that we know 84 00:03:48,294 --> 00:03:49,796 produce living things. 85 00:03:49,796 --> 00:03:51,531 So that's huge. 86 00:03:51,531 --> 00:03:56,836 Can Sarah, can you both explain to us really the significance 87 00:03:56,836 --> 00:04:01,040 of these findings, but also why together they mean so much? 88 00:04:01,608 --> 00:04:01,975 Yeah. 89 00:04:01,975 --> 00:04:03,910 So when we looked at Bennu, 90 00:04:03,910 --> 00:04:06,145 we were expecting it to be full of water. 91 00:04:06,145 --> 00:04:07,013 And and it is. 92 00:04:07,013 --> 00:04:09,249 So it's made mostly of clay minerals, 93 00:04:09,249 --> 00:04:12,018 which capture water in their structure. 94 00:04:12,018 --> 00:04:14,187 But what we weren't expecting to find 95 00:04:14,187 --> 00:04:17,557 was that it also contains tiny minerals of salts. 96 00:04:17,557 --> 00:04:20,560 So that includes sodium chloride, which you use 97 00:04:20,793 --> 00:04:22,295 on your chips. 98 00:04:22,295 --> 00:04:23,029 Table salt. 99 00:04:23,029 --> 00:04:23,596 Oh, cool. 100 00:04:23,596 --> 00:04:29,035 And also, carbonates and sulfates and phosphates. 101 00:04:29,035 --> 00:04:32,538 We found this whole range of different salty materials. 102 00:04:32,538 --> 00:04:34,173 And we think that these formed 103 00:04:34,173 --> 00:04:37,176 from a part of water or pods of water 104 00:04:37,310 --> 00:04:40,513 that would have been under the ground of Bennu's parent body. 105 00:04:40,780 --> 00:04:43,850 And this water would have slowly evaporated away 106 00:04:44,017 --> 00:04:45,385 to leave behind these salts. 107 00:04:45,385 --> 00:04:46,986 But this salty water is 108 00:04:46,986 --> 00:04:51,024 a really exciting environment, because that's where you have 109 00:04:51,024 --> 00:04:54,093 the potential to be able to make organic molecules. 110 00:04:54,861 --> 00:04:55,728 And Danny. 111 00:04:55,728 --> 00:04:57,463 Okay. With the organics. 112 00:04:57,463 --> 00:04:57,997 Yeah. 113 00:04:57,997 --> 00:04:59,432 So I mean, one of the incredible 114 00:04:59,432 --> 00:05:00,833 findings here is that we found 115 00:05:00,833 --> 00:05:03,336 literally the chemical building blocks of life. 116 00:05:03,336 --> 00:05:07,340 We found 14 of the 20 amino acids used to build proteins, 117 00:05:07,674 --> 00:05:09,042 and all five nucleus 118 00:05:09,042 --> 00:05:12,445 bases of the that make up the genetic code and DNA and RNA. 119 00:05:12,879 --> 00:05:14,080 And what's exciting is 120 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:15,948 the combination that we're finding these these 121 00:05:15,948 --> 00:05:19,052 these chemical building blocks, but also these salty brines 122 00:05:19,419 --> 00:05:21,454 and these environments are like places 123 00:05:21,454 --> 00:05:22,021 that we think 124 00:05:22,021 --> 00:05:23,790 life could have started on the early Earth 125 00:05:23,790 --> 00:05:25,858 and these evaporating, salty lakes. 126 00:05:25,858 --> 00:05:27,360 So this, this, this is 127 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:28,961 these are just incredible samples 128 00:05:28,961 --> 00:05:30,663 to look at the prebiotic chemistry 129 00:05:30,663 --> 00:05:32,832 that may have led to life on Earth. 130 00:05:32,832 --> 00:05:36,002 And so to focus on these molecules you just mentioned. 131 00:05:36,002 --> 00:05:38,504 So we found the building blocks of proteins 132 00:05:38,504 --> 00:05:41,808 and we found the building blocks of DNA and RNA. 133 00:05:42,075 --> 00:05:44,744 You know, have we found these before? 134 00:05:44,744 --> 00:05:46,979 What's the significance in this discovery? 135 00:05:46,979 --> 00:05:47,413 Yeah. 136 00:05:47,413 --> 00:05:49,248 So we actually have found a lot 137 00:05:49,248 --> 00:05:51,184 of these molecules in meteorites 138 00:05:51,184 --> 00:05:54,320 have been looking at these for the last 30 years. 139 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:56,189 And but one of the big frustrations 140 00:05:56,189 --> 00:05:57,623 for me with meteorites is that they've, 141 00:05:57,623 --> 00:05:59,258 they've they've been contaminated. 142 00:05:59,258 --> 00:06:00,860 You know, these things fall through the atmosphere. 143 00:06:00,860 --> 00:06:03,396 They get heated, they hit the ground. 144 00:06:03,396 --> 00:06:06,733 They're immediately exposed to to terrestrial contamination. 145 00:06:06,733 --> 00:06:08,000 And so you're never quite 146 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,136 sure if what you're looking at is real. 147 00:06:10,136 --> 00:06:12,372 Well, with Bennu, we have samples now, 148 00:06:12,372 --> 00:06:15,408 4.5 billion year old asteroid samples 149 00:06:15,408 --> 00:06:17,910 that were protected by a heat shield coming in. 150 00:06:17,910 --> 00:06:19,445 So it didn't experience the heat. 151 00:06:19,445 --> 00:06:22,548 They were protected from Earth's biology, contained. 152 00:06:22,915 --> 00:06:25,184 And, you know, we're finding these building blocks. 153 00:06:25,184 --> 00:06:27,620 So, you know, we have higher confidence in these results. 154 00:06:27,620 --> 00:06:28,688 Now we can believe them. 155 00:06:28,688 --> 00:06:30,289 We trust that what we're looking at 156 00:06:30,289 --> 00:06:32,024 is extraterrestrial organic matter. 157 00:06:32,024 --> 00:06:33,826 And it's out there right now. 158 00:06:33,826 --> 00:06:36,529 Yeah. It's just so cool to think about. 159 00:06:36,529 --> 00:06:39,532 So, Sarah, can you actually take us back now, 160 00:06:39,565 --> 00:06:44,570 like almost 4.6 billion years back to business parent body. 161 00:06:44,871 --> 00:06:45,171 You know, 162 00:06:45,171 --> 00:06:48,207 what have we learned about that environment 163 00:06:48,241 --> 00:06:50,109 now from these samples? Yes. 164 00:06:50,109 --> 00:06:54,647 So Bennu is like a time capsule from which we can learn 165 00:06:54,847 --> 00:06:57,950 about the whole 4.5 billion years of solar system history. 166 00:06:58,251 --> 00:07:01,821 And we think that Bennu formed probably in the outermost part 167 00:07:01,821 --> 00:07:03,089 of the solar system, 168 00:07:03,089 --> 00:07:04,190 and now everything 169 00:07:04,190 --> 00:07:07,360 in the solar system condensed from a cloud of dust and gas. 170 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:10,596 So most of it went in to form the sun in the center. 171 00:07:10,897 --> 00:07:14,567 But then this material also condensed to form the planets 172 00:07:14,767 --> 00:07:18,604 and also the minor bodies like the asteroids and comets. 173 00:07:19,038 --> 00:07:22,642 So Bennu would have formed from this dusty 174 00:07:22,642 --> 00:07:27,380 cloud, of material which would have included ice as well. 175 00:07:27,747 --> 00:07:31,784 And after it formed, would the ice would have melted, 176 00:07:31,784 --> 00:07:33,386 it would have been gently heated 177 00:07:33,386 --> 00:07:36,823 by a little bit of radioactivity that was inside the body. 178 00:07:37,557 --> 00:07:41,360 And so the ice melted and that, then interacted 179 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:43,463 with the rock and produced 180 00:07:43,463 --> 00:07:46,732 this whole new suite of minerals that we see today. 181 00:07:47,266 --> 00:07:48,935 So that was Bennu's parent body. 182 00:07:48,935 --> 00:07:52,238 Then at some point, it also got, moved. 183 00:07:52,405 --> 00:07:55,475 Yeah, injected into the inner solar system, first 184 00:07:55,508 --> 00:07:57,610 the asteroid belt and eventually, 185 00:07:57,610 --> 00:08:01,380 to the near Earth place where we see it today. 186 00:08:01,981 --> 00:08:04,383 And what we see today is basically a rubble pile 187 00:08:04,383 --> 00:08:07,386 asteroid, so is quite small at 20 500m across. 188 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:09,555 And it's basically made up of boulders, 189 00:08:09,555 --> 00:08:11,591 just gently, sort of stuck together. 190 00:08:11,591 --> 00:08:15,561 So these are just, remnants of impacts 191 00:08:15,561 --> 00:08:18,231 that went into its original bigger body. 192 00:08:18,231 --> 00:08:21,234 And so, Danny, how could these 193 00:08:21,834 --> 00:08:24,971 building blocks have arrived on Bennu? 194 00:08:24,971 --> 00:08:26,839 Yeah. Informed and informed. 195 00:08:26,839 --> 00:08:27,073 Yeah. 196 00:08:27,073 --> 00:08:27,507 I mean, so 197 00:08:27,507 --> 00:08:30,510 we just heard from Sarah about the melting of these ices. 198 00:08:30,776 --> 00:08:32,445 And one of the really interesting things 199 00:08:32,445 --> 00:08:34,480 that we found, actually, this was a big surprise, 200 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:38,150 is that the Bennu samples came, have a lot of ammonia, 201 00:08:38,584 --> 00:08:40,219 you know, ammonia is the stuff you smell. 202 00:08:40,219 --> 00:08:41,787 And when you clean your windows, right? 203 00:08:41,787 --> 00:08:42,755 Yeah. Spray. 204 00:08:42,755 --> 00:08:45,791 It's pungent, but ammonia is is also an important 205 00:08:45,791 --> 00:08:49,328 building block to form amino acids in nuclear bases. 206 00:08:49,529 --> 00:08:51,898 But it needs water to do that, right. 207 00:08:51,898 --> 00:08:53,599 So the ammonia can react with things 208 00:08:53,599 --> 00:08:54,600 to make these amino acids. 209 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:57,803 So the fact that we're seeing these brines melted liquid water 210 00:08:58,037 --> 00:08:59,272 and we have these high 211 00:08:59,272 --> 00:09:01,974 ammonia concentration ions is really again 212 00:09:01,974 --> 00:09:03,609 pointing towards an outer solar system 213 00:09:03,609 --> 00:09:05,945 origin where the ammonia ice was stable. 214 00:09:05,945 --> 00:09:08,781 And again, this environment where we can get this really 215 00:09:08,781 --> 00:09:10,216 complex organic chemistry, 216 00:09:10,216 --> 00:09:12,051 because of these, these liquid brines. 217 00:09:12,051 --> 00:09:13,519 Yeah, absolutely. 218 00:09:13,519 --> 00:09:15,755 This is so fascinating to think about. 219 00:09:15,755 --> 00:09:17,924 And, you know, to provide some context 220 00:09:17,924 --> 00:09:20,660 to these discoveries and what they mean. 221 00:09:20,660 --> 00:09:23,863 Here's what you need to know about the molecules of life. 222 00:09:35,141 --> 00:09:47,219 How? How? 223 00:11:31,323 --> 00:11:32,091 All right, so we 224 00:11:32,091 --> 00:11:34,627 got to break down on the building blocks of life 225 00:11:34,627 --> 00:11:36,429 right now. Let's break down this environment. 226 00:11:36,429 --> 00:11:37,430 You know, I understand 227 00:11:37,430 --> 00:11:41,600 that there was mineral evidence of this briny, salty liquid 228 00:11:41,867 --> 00:11:43,035 for Bennu's parent body, 229 00:11:43,035 --> 00:11:45,771 which could have been this perfect broth to cook up 230 00:11:45,771 --> 00:11:48,741 these molecules of life that Danny's been talking about. 231 00:11:48,741 --> 00:11:50,142 How do we know that? 232 00:11:50,142 --> 00:11:53,012 Have we seen this anywhere before? 233 00:11:53,012 --> 00:11:58,250 Yes. So, when we saw this whole sequence of salts, 234 00:11:58,584 --> 00:12:02,688 it reminded us a little bit of, lakebed on Earth. 235 00:12:02,988 --> 00:12:06,492 So, like, so like in California, where the lake itself 236 00:12:06,492 --> 00:12:08,360 has evaporated away 237 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:11,797 and left behind this whole sequence of different minerals. 238 00:12:12,131 --> 00:12:14,600 And so this was a great analog for us. Yeah. 239 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:15,201 That's Bennu, 240 00:12:15,201 --> 00:12:17,903 because we found a lot of exactly the same minerals. 241 00:12:17,903 --> 00:12:19,605 So this really helped us 242 00:12:19,605 --> 00:12:22,241 kind of visualize what was going on inside Bennu. 243 00:12:22,241 --> 00:12:22,975 That's great. 244 00:12:22,975 --> 00:12:24,410 And I mean, Danny, 245 00:12:24,410 --> 00:12:27,546 we couldn't have really gotten this kind of analysis, right, 246 00:12:27,546 --> 00:12:30,583 unless we had these samples back here on Earth. 247 00:12:30,883 --> 00:12:32,518 Oh, yeah. There's no question. 248 00:12:32,518 --> 00:12:32,985 I mean, part 249 00:12:32,985 --> 00:12:34,687 of the power of these sample return missions 250 00:12:34,687 --> 00:12:36,255 is that you can bring these samples back, 251 00:12:36,255 --> 00:12:39,258 and you have the world's instruments, right? 252 00:12:39,425 --> 00:12:41,794 To work with, state of the art instrumentation. 253 00:12:41,794 --> 00:12:45,064 We did make measurements at asteroid Bennu, and we had hints 254 00:12:45,364 --> 00:12:47,399 that there were clay minerals in the water. 255 00:12:47,399 --> 00:12:47,900 We have it. 256 00:12:47,900 --> 00:12:50,402 We even had hints that there was organic carbon 257 00:12:50,402 --> 00:12:52,538 present on the surface. But we didn't know the form. 258 00:12:52,538 --> 00:12:53,339 We didn't know 259 00:12:53,339 --> 00:12:56,242 where amino acids or other chemical building blocks. 260 00:12:56,242 --> 00:12:57,243 Now we know. 261 00:12:57,243 --> 00:12:57,643 And that's 262 00:12:57,643 --> 00:12:59,779 because we had these samples in the lab, 263 00:12:59,779 --> 00:13:00,946 and we can use state of the art 264 00:13:00,946 --> 00:13:02,615 instrumentation to analyze them. 265 00:13:02,615 --> 00:13:04,884 And also these salts are very, very delicate. 266 00:13:04,884 --> 00:13:07,319 And, if they came in a meteorite 267 00:13:07,319 --> 00:13:09,522 and became exposed to the atmosphere, 268 00:13:09,522 --> 00:13:11,390 then they would quickly dissolve away. 269 00:13:11,390 --> 00:13:12,825 So it was really important 270 00:13:12,825 --> 00:13:14,860 to have this very pristine sample 271 00:13:14,860 --> 00:13:17,863 that's been beautifully curated at the Johnson Space Center 272 00:13:17,930 --> 00:13:21,200 in Houston and kept in a nitrogen only atmosphere 273 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:24,203 and not being exposed to the Earth's atmosphere. 274 00:13:24,470 --> 00:13:26,372 This is so fascinating. 275 00:13:26,372 --> 00:13:27,673 And so I'm going to pause, 276 00:13:27,673 --> 00:13:28,607 because we've got a 277 00:13:28,607 --> 00:13:31,610 ton of questions coming in from our viewers online. 278 00:13:31,610 --> 00:13:32,912 And if you are just tuning in 279 00:13:32,912 --> 00:13:35,080 with us, remember, you can submit your questions 280 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:37,750 in the into the comment stream wherever you're watching 281 00:13:37,750 --> 00:13:40,052 by using ask NASA. 282 00:13:40,052 --> 00:13:41,921 So let's jump into our first question. 283 00:13:43,122 --> 00:13:45,858 We have freedom on X. 284 00:13:45,858 --> 00:13:47,993 Who wants to know where did these ingredients 285 00:13:47,993 --> 00:13:50,996 come from in the early solar system? 286 00:13:51,297 --> 00:13:53,098 Sarah, Danny. 287 00:13:53,098 --> 00:13:57,469 Well, I can I can talk for the inorganic, ingredients. 288 00:13:57,469 --> 00:14:02,541 So, all of the elements that make up Earth, 289 00:14:02,608 --> 00:14:05,611 apart from the hydrogen, were made 290 00:14:06,278 --> 00:14:09,648 inside ancient stars that were ancestors to our own. 291 00:14:09,648 --> 00:14:10,649 So there's this whole 292 00:14:10,649 --> 00:14:14,253 incredible story about how we got to be on. 293 00:14:14,420 --> 00:14:15,654 We really are star stuff. 294 00:14:15,654 --> 00:14:18,490 That's amazing stuff. Exactly. 295 00:14:18,490 --> 00:14:19,458 So at the beginning, 296 00:14:19,458 --> 00:14:19,992 if you go back 297 00:14:19,992 --> 00:14:22,228 to the beginning of the universe, the Big Bang 298 00:14:22,228 --> 00:14:23,829 made a load of hydrogen. 299 00:14:23,829 --> 00:14:25,764 And that formed into stars. 300 00:14:25,764 --> 00:14:27,066 And they were factories 301 00:14:27,066 --> 00:14:30,169 for all of the other elements that we that we have. 302 00:14:30,169 --> 00:14:33,873 So ultimately, that's where this stuff came from. 303 00:14:33,906 --> 00:14:39,979 And as, as billion Year went on, more and more 304 00:14:39,979 --> 00:14:44,683 elements were created and dust was formed around stars 305 00:14:44,683 --> 00:14:47,086 that was floating around and eventually 306 00:14:47,086 --> 00:14:49,188 became part of our solar system. 307 00:14:49,188 --> 00:14:51,624 And Danny, when did the organics come in? 308 00:14:51,624 --> 00:14:53,993 Yeah. So this is actually an interesting question. 309 00:14:53,993 --> 00:14:55,761 We're trying to tease this part of it out, 310 00:14:55,761 --> 00:14:56,562 but turns out that 311 00:14:56,562 --> 00:14:57,830 some of these ISIS, he had 312 00:14:57,830 --> 00:15:01,000 this disk of ice and dust, you can get some chemistry 313 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,737 happening on these ice grains for forming silly molecules. 314 00:15:04,737 --> 00:15:06,438 Formaldehyde simple. 315 00:15:06,438 --> 00:15:09,441 Nothing is complex as we're seeing in Bennu. 316 00:15:09,675 --> 00:15:10,743 But these ice is, again, 317 00:15:10,743 --> 00:15:12,578 they get incorporated into the parent body, 318 00:15:12,578 --> 00:15:14,446 and then you have this radioactive heating, 319 00:15:14,446 --> 00:15:16,749 which can drive this additional chemistry. 320 00:15:16,749 --> 00:15:18,951 So you can form more complex structures, 321 00:15:18,951 --> 00:15:21,921 like the amino acids and the nuclear bases that we're seeing. 322 00:15:21,987 --> 00:15:24,156 We even have evidence that some of these ices 323 00:15:24,156 --> 00:15:26,191 may have come from the interstellar medium. 324 00:15:26,191 --> 00:15:28,928 You know, a different solar system. And we're. 325 00:15:28,928 --> 00:15:32,264 Yeah, I mean, so it's actually a very complex story. 326 00:15:32,631 --> 00:15:34,066 But the idea is that we 327 00:15:34,066 --> 00:15:36,602 we started out with very simple compounds in the beginning, 328 00:15:36,602 --> 00:15:39,204 and then we developed this complexity with time 329 00:15:40,339 --> 00:15:40,739 into. 330 00:15:40,739 --> 00:15:44,810 My next question is from, a user on Twitch who asks, 331 00:15:44,910 --> 00:15:47,179 what tests did you run on your samples 332 00:15:47,179 --> 00:15:48,480 and how long did it take? 333 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:50,349 So I think this is a great one for both of you, because 334 00:15:50,349 --> 00:15:52,451 did you both run different tests? 335 00:15:52,451 --> 00:15:54,553 We did. Okay. 336 00:15:54,553 --> 00:15:55,220 Very different. 337 00:15:55,220 --> 00:15:55,955 All right. 338 00:15:55,955 --> 00:15:58,324 Cool. Well, let's hear about it. Sarah. Yes. 339 00:15:58,324 --> 00:16:02,428 So what we did was, we analyzed the Bennu sample 340 00:16:02,428 --> 00:16:03,362 grain by grain. 341 00:16:03,362 --> 00:16:06,832 So the first little sample we got was basically kind of 342 00:16:06,832 --> 00:16:10,769 fine grain, like the, grain size, about a pieces of sugar. 343 00:16:11,403 --> 00:16:12,438 So really tiny. 344 00:16:12,438 --> 00:16:14,873 So it would pick up each little grain with tweezers. 345 00:16:14,873 --> 00:16:16,742 And first we CT scanned it. 346 00:16:16,742 --> 00:16:19,778 So this is a way like the CT scans in hospital. 347 00:16:19,778 --> 00:16:23,449 You can look at the inside structure, of a grain. 348 00:16:23,449 --> 00:16:25,751 And then we looked at it on the electron microscope, 349 00:16:25,751 --> 00:16:27,753 which gave us the chance to 350 00:16:27,753 --> 00:16:30,756 look at what minerals were there and how they 351 00:16:30,756 --> 00:16:33,392 interacted with each other, so we could tell which one form 352 00:16:33,392 --> 00:16:34,593 first and which one formed after. 353 00:16:34,593 --> 00:16:37,596 So that helped us build up the story about Bennu. 354 00:16:37,629 --> 00:16:40,232 Wow. And, Danny, what about your side? 355 00:16:40,232 --> 00:16:42,735 Yeah. So we made Bennu tea in our lab. 356 00:16:42,735 --> 00:16:43,535 We literally took 357 00:16:43,535 --> 00:16:46,939 some of the Bennu samples and put them in water, 358 00:16:47,306 --> 00:16:52,344 sealed them up at 100°C and, you know, boiled it and, yeah, 359 00:16:52,344 --> 00:16:55,347 extracted the organic compounds, just like making tea. 360 00:16:55,381 --> 00:16:57,316 And then we analyze this liquid, 361 00:16:57,316 --> 00:17:01,320 with a variety of different mass spectrometer, techniques. 362 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:03,022 And these basically measure 363 00:17:03,022 --> 00:17:06,592 the mass of each organic compound to very high precision. 364 00:17:06,859 --> 00:17:09,795 And from that you can identify what the molecule is. 365 00:17:09,795 --> 00:17:11,864 And actually in some of the in this tea, 366 00:17:11,864 --> 00:17:13,899 we're finding a very complex soup, 367 00:17:13,899 --> 00:17:17,703 over 10,000 nitrogen containing organic molecules. 368 00:17:17,703 --> 00:17:18,804 So we're literally 369 00:17:18,804 --> 00:17:21,807 just scratching the surface with these detection hurdles. 370 00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:22,808 It's you know, 371 00:17:22,808 --> 00:17:23,509 we've seen this 372 00:17:23,509 --> 00:17:26,478 in other other meteorites before, the complexity. 373 00:17:27,179 --> 00:17:28,947 But as I said, we're just getting started 374 00:17:28,947 --> 00:17:30,115 with these Bennu samples. 375 00:17:30,115 --> 00:17:32,651 It's going to take a lot of time to, to figure out, 376 00:17:32,651 --> 00:17:34,219 you know, what all these molecules are. 377 00:17:35,354 --> 00:17:37,489 And so, Sarah, I know you all had the samples 378 00:17:37,489 --> 00:17:39,892 at the Natural History Museum in London. Right? 379 00:17:39,892 --> 00:17:43,595 But these samples have been sent all over the world. 380 00:17:43,595 --> 00:17:44,930 Is that correct? 381 00:17:44,930 --> 00:17:45,631 Absolutely. 382 00:17:45,631 --> 00:17:47,666 We're part of this huge team. 383 00:17:47,666 --> 00:17:50,302 On is it four continents? 384 00:17:50,302 --> 00:17:51,136 Five continents. 385 00:17:51,136 --> 00:17:54,673 I lost count, okay, but most of the continents anyway. 386 00:17:54,673 --> 00:17:55,007 Yeah. 387 00:17:55,007 --> 00:17:55,774 And, 388 00:17:55,774 --> 00:17:56,275 and we 389 00:17:56,275 --> 00:18:00,112 all have been working together, so having lots of telecoms 390 00:18:00,112 --> 00:18:02,481 to update each other on, on our results, 391 00:18:02,481 --> 00:18:04,216 that's been one of the amazing things 392 00:18:04,216 --> 00:18:06,452 about this mission, this being it being able 393 00:18:06,452 --> 00:18:09,021 to work with these people all over the world. 394 00:18:09,021 --> 00:18:11,690 That is so cool and so okay, 395 00:18:11,690 --> 00:18:15,527 I have our next question from Gold Eagle on YouTube. 396 00:18:15,527 --> 00:18:16,261 Who wants to know? 397 00:18:16,261 --> 00:18:17,463 Is this the first time 398 00:18:17,463 --> 00:18:20,866 that an asteroid has been found to have amino acids? 399 00:18:20,999 --> 00:18:21,667 Danny. 400 00:18:21,667 --> 00:18:25,471 So, no, actually the first, sample. 401 00:18:25,471 --> 00:18:29,675 So the Hayabusa mission, which, was a Jaxa 402 00:18:29,741 --> 00:18:33,412 Japanese, space agency mission brought back, tiny, 403 00:18:33,645 --> 00:18:36,648 a tiny amount of sample from asteroid Itokawa. 404 00:18:36,815 --> 00:18:40,419 And we actually found a few amino acids in these tiny grains 405 00:18:40,552 --> 00:18:41,653 that we showed 406 00:18:41,653 --> 00:18:42,588 were non-pro, 407 00:18:42,588 --> 00:18:43,989 18 amino acids and, you know, 408 00:18:43,989 --> 00:18:46,125 indicating an extraterrestrial origin. 409 00:18:46,125 --> 00:18:48,727 And then more recently, Hayabusa2, 410 00:18:48,727 --> 00:18:52,197 the second Japanese mission, return samples from REU goo. 411 00:18:52,531 --> 00:18:56,201 About six grams, I think, or so of material. 412 00:18:56,201 --> 00:18:56,869 And again, 413 00:18:56,869 --> 00:19:00,572 some of these amino acids were also found in those samples. 414 00:19:00,572 --> 00:19:04,409 So no, this isn't the first time, we are seeing 415 00:19:04,409 --> 00:19:06,979 a greater diversity of organic compounds 416 00:19:06,979 --> 00:19:09,148 in the Bennu samples, so that's pretty exciting. 417 00:19:09,148 --> 00:19:11,483 But I think really, it's this ability to compare. 418 00:19:11,483 --> 00:19:13,619 We now have three asteroid samples. Yeah. 419 00:19:13,619 --> 00:19:17,322 And and the science really the value here is, is being able 420 00:19:17,322 --> 00:19:20,025 to compare these samples to one another. 421 00:19:20,025 --> 00:19:23,162 I mean, this is a really excitin 422 00:19:24,429 --> 00:19:26,532 And so that's amazing. 423 00:19:26,532 --> 00:19:28,400 Sarah, I have a great follow up for you. 424 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:31,403 Brad on YouTube asks, were there any discoveries 425 00:19:31,403 --> 00:19:33,472 of unknown substances in the asteroid? 426 00:19:33,472 --> 00:19:34,907 I know earlier you talked about knowing 427 00:19:34,907 --> 00:19:36,475 there was going to be Clay. 428 00:19:36,475 --> 00:19:38,377 Yes. Yeah. 429 00:19:38,377 --> 00:19:42,114 There were some minerals that have not been seen 430 00:19:42,114 --> 00:19:43,549 in meteorites before, 431 00:19:43,549 --> 00:19:46,552 but but have been seen on Earth like, sodium 432 00:19:46,852 --> 00:19:49,855 carbonate, for example, which is a mineral called trona. 433 00:19:50,689 --> 00:19:52,758 And then I think maybe 434 00:19:52,758 --> 00:19:56,962 what might be unique is we found, particular phosphate. 435 00:19:56,962 --> 00:20:00,832 It's, sodium magnesium phosphate, which is actually 436 00:20:00,832 --> 00:20:02,601 fairly abundant in Bennu. 437 00:20:02,601 --> 00:20:04,937 And we hadn't seen that before. 438 00:20:04,937 --> 00:20:06,138 So subsequently, 439 00:20:06,138 --> 00:20:09,975 it has been found on ragu and, and a few meteorites as well. 440 00:20:09,975 --> 00:20:12,778 So, it's not only found in Bennu. 441 00:20:13,812 --> 00:20:16,315 Any surprises for you, Danny? 442 00:20:16,315 --> 00:20:16,982 And yours? 443 00:20:16,982 --> 00:20:19,585 Yeah. So, yeah, we talked about the ammonia. 444 00:20:19,585 --> 00:20:20,219 Yeah. 445 00:20:20,219 --> 00:20:22,688 So the ammonia levels were really high in the Venus 446 00:20:22,688 --> 00:20:23,255 samples. 447 00:20:23,255 --> 00:20:27,025 About 100 times what you might find in your backyard soil. 448 00:20:27,392 --> 00:20:29,861 Higher than what we found in Riga 449 00:20:29,861 --> 00:20:32,331 and higher than in most meteorites. 450 00:20:32,331 --> 00:20:35,033 But again, you know, the fact that we're seeing 451 00:20:35,033 --> 00:20:38,036 these, these building blocks in all of these samples, right, 452 00:20:38,904 --> 00:20:40,839 suggests that this stuff is widespread. 453 00:20:40,839 --> 00:20:41,073 Yeah. 454 00:20:41,073 --> 00:20:41,773 I mean, these 455 00:20:41,773 --> 00:20:43,976 these building blocks are not just limited to Bennu, 456 00:20:43,976 --> 00:20:45,444 and they were all over the solar system. 457 00:20:45,444 --> 00:20:47,746 And I think that's just, you know, 458 00:20:47,746 --> 00:20:50,048 the idea that these things could have led to life 459 00:20:50,048 --> 00:20:51,883 not only on Earth, but potentially elsewhere. 460 00:20:51,883 --> 00:20:54,253 That's that's what's getting me excited right now. 461 00:20:54,253 --> 00:20:56,121 It is really excited, exciting. 462 00:20:56,121 --> 00:20:58,557 And for the, brines as well. 463 00:20:58,557 --> 00:21:01,159 We think we see these in other places in the solar system. 464 00:21:01,159 --> 00:21:02,995 So, the moon of 465 00:21:02,995 --> 00:21:06,431 Saturn and Solidus has got plumes coming out of it 466 00:21:06,798 --> 00:21:09,768 that, we think may be similar to the salty brine. 467 00:21:09,768 --> 00:21:12,170 And the biggest asteroid in the asteroid belt 468 00:21:12,170 --> 00:21:14,206 series has got some white patches 469 00:21:14,206 --> 00:21:16,041 that we think might be salts as well. 470 00:21:16,041 --> 00:21:17,309 So, absolutely, 471 00:21:17,309 --> 00:21:19,177 we think these things that we're seeing on Bennu, 472 00:21:19,177 --> 00:21:21,980 we might be seeing across the solar system. 473 00:21:21,980 --> 00:21:25,083 And just to follow up quickly, we're also seeing the ammonia o 474 00:21:25,217 --> 00:21:29,054 ammonia salts on series and, and and the solidus plumes. 475 00:21:29,054 --> 00:21:31,490 So you have the again the raw ingredients 476 00:21:31,490 --> 00:21:34,259 for some of these building blocks. So yeah. 477 00:21:35,460 --> 00:21:36,395 So I have 478 00:21:36,395 --> 00:21:39,431 a question from Sue Gerd on ECS. 479 00:21:39,464 --> 00:21:40,098 Who wants to know 480 00:21:40,098 --> 00:21:43,635 what is the likelihood of contamination before mission 481 00:21:43,635 --> 00:21:46,638 launch or analysis? 482 00:21:48,006 --> 00:21:51,943 Any take that or oh, I'll start new carry on. 483 00:21:51,943 --> 00:21:52,544 Yeah. 484 00:21:52,544 --> 00:21:53,679 But yeah. 485 00:21:53,679 --> 00:21:57,416 So contamination is something that was really important to us 486 00:21:57,416 --> 00:21:59,785 to try to, keep to a minimum. 487 00:21:59,785 --> 00:22:01,987 And it's something that we have been tracking 488 00:22:01,987 --> 00:22:03,355 really closely, 489 00:22:03,355 --> 00:22:05,824 throughout the mission, because one of the 490 00:22:05,824 --> 00:22:09,394 really important things was to try to get back 491 00:22:09,394 --> 00:22:10,762 a pristine sample. 492 00:22:10,762 --> 00:22:14,399 And, so we put all sorts of things 493 00:22:14,399 --> 00:22:17,569 in play to make sure that that happens, including 494 00:22:17,869 --> 00:22:20,839 having what we call witness plates, which, 495 00:22:21,473 --> 00:22:23,442 witness whatever the asteroid witnesses, 496 00:22:23,442 --> 00:22:26,478 so we can monitor them and see if they've become contaminated. 497 00:22:26,478 --> 00:22:29,481 So there's several things in place to make sure 498 00:22:29,581 --> 00:22:31,249 that we keep the contamination to a minimum 499 00:22:31,249 --> 00:22:32,617 and where contamination happens, 500 00:22:32,617 --> 00:22:34,753 that we understand it so that we can 501 00:22:34,753 --> 00:22:36,722 then remove that from our analysis. 502 00:22:36,722 --> 00:22:37,022 Yeah. 503 00:22:37,022 --> 00:22:38,924 You know, I'll just follow up and say, you know, it's 504 00:22:38,924 --> 00:22:41,093 impossible to keep something perfectly clean. 505 00:22:41,093 --> 00:22:42,594 You know, we're sending 506 00:22:42,594 --> 00:22:44,162 a spacecraft built by humans 507 00:22:44,162 --> 00:22:45,697 in this space, and it's impossible 508 00:22:45,697 --> 00:22:47,999 to completely eliminate contamination. 509 00:22:47,999 --> 00:22:50,001 But as you said, we've got witness plates 510 00:22:50,001 --> 00:22:51,603 to track it through all stages. 511 00:22:51,603 --> 00:22:52,871 My colleague Jason Durkin 512 00:22:52,871 --> 00:22:55,340 was the contamination control lead, and he. 513 00:22:55,340 --> 00:22:57,709 You spent a lot of time working with the engineers, 514 00:22:57,709 --> 00:22:59,945 making sure got gotta have this witness plate here. 515 00:22:59,945 --> 00:23:00,946 And we got to analyze it, 516 00:23:00,946 --> 00:23:05,250 and we were actually tracking the amino acid, contribution 517 00:23:05,250 --> 00:23:08,920 on these plates, through assembly and didn't find much. 518 00:23:09,020 --> 00:23:11,990 I mean, even something like nylon, you know, 519 00:23:12,224 --> 00:23:13,825 that's a source of amino acid. 520 00:23:13,825 --> 00:23:17,462 And so there was a big push to just eliminate nylon completely. 521 00:23:17,462 --> 00:23:20,298 Don't let the sampler head touch nylon. 522 00:23:20,298 --> 00:23:23,034 And we succeeded actually, in making these, 523 00:23:23,034 --> 00:23:25,170 these pretty big changes to to do that. 524 00:23:25,170 --> 00:23:27,172 And we're reaping the benefits now right. 525 00:23:27,172 --> 00:23:30,575 Yeah I understand I mean, didn't we build a whole 526 00:23:30,575 --> 00:23:35,447 new sample analysis labs for these samples on Earth? 527 00:23:35,614 --> 00:23:38,016 Well, there's a new curation curation 528 00:23:38,016 --> 00:23:41,019 that was built especially for a Sirus Rex. 529 00:23:41,253 --> 00:23:42,454 Oh, yeah. Absolutely. 530 00:23:43,855 --> 00:23:44,723 Thank you both. 531 00:23:44,723 --> 00:23:47,959 And so our next question is someone on ECS who wants to 532 00:23:47,959 --> 00:23:53,298 know, did the samples include polypeptides that were chiral, 533 00:23:53,432 --> 00:23:56,435 pure or so I think this is this is a little technical. 534 00:23:57,369 --> 00:24:01,239 So, yeah, that's an amazing question. 535 00:24:01,239 --> 00:24:01,807 Think so? 536 00:24:01,807 --> 00:24:04,543 Let's step back a little bit and talk about chirality. 537 00:24:04,543 --> 00:24:04,910 Okay. 538 00:24:04,910 --> 00:24:08,780 So amino acids can come in two forms just like your hands 539 00:24:09,181 --> 00:24:11,750 and their non super imposible mirror images. 540 00:24:11,750 --> 00:24:13,885 So if you try to take your hands like this, you see 541 00:24:13,885 --> 00:24:15,020 my thumbs are sticking out. 542 00:24:15,020 --> 00:24:15,320 Right. 543 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:18,190 And so amino acids have that kind of reality. 544 00:24:18,190 --> 00:24:20,459 Handedness, mirror image forms. 545 00:24:20,459 --> 00:24:24,296 All life on Earth is based only on the left handed form. 546 00:24:24,830 --> 00:24:26,398 And we still don't know why. 547 00:24:26,398 --> 00:24:29,868 This is actually a big mystery, because life could have evolved 548 00:24:29,868 --> 00:24:31,002 with right handed proteins, 549 00:24:31,002 --> 00:24:33,738 and it could have functioned just as well. 550 00:24:33,738 --> 00:24:35,674 So big mystery in the origin of life 551 00:24:35,674 --> 00:24:37,542 to get at the question about peptides. 552 00:24:37,542 --> 00:24:41,413 So peptides are actually chains of amino acids that take two 553 00:24:41,413 --> 00:24:44,416 amino acids, link them together, they form these long chains. 554 00:24:44,616 --> 00:24:47,619 And indeed life biology on Earth, 555 00:24:47,752 --> 00:24:48,753 you know, it's predominantly 556 00:24:48,753 --> 00:24:50,622 the left handed form of these peptides. 557 00:24:50,622 --> 00:24:53,625 Now, we haven't found any peptides yet. 558 00:24:53,792 --> 00:24:54,893 We're looking carefully. 559 00:24:54,893 --> 00:24:56,895 We have a much larger sample now. 560 00:24:56,895 --> 00:24:58,163 So we're looking for these 561 00:24:58,163 --> 00:25:00,565 that we call them polymers or peptides. 562 00:25:00,565 --> 00:25:03,468 And yeah if we find them absolutely. 563 00:25:03,468 --> 00:25:06,705 We'll be measuring the chirality no question about it in DNA. 564 00:25:06,738 --> 00:25:08,073 I've got a good follow up for you. 565 00:25:08,073 --> 00:25:12,143 It is one of our followers on X who wants to know, 566 00:25:12,377 --> 00:25:15,313 did you find other basic building blocks of life 567 00:25:15,313 --> 00:25:18,083 that have shown up in the sample, or meteorites? 568 00:25:19,451 --> 00:25:21,253 Do you want to talk about the phosphate? 569 00:25:21,253 --> 00:25:24,055 Oh yeah, we could talk about the phosphate. 570 00:25:24,055 --> 00:25:24,356 Yeah. 571 00:25:24,356 --> 00:25:26,124 So one of the reasons we're really excited 572 00:25:26,124 --> 00:25:29,661 to find phosphate in Bennu and quite a high proportion, 573 00:25:29,661 --> 00:25:32,731 is because phosphate is also really essential to life. 574 00:25:32,731 --> 00:25:35,400 So it makes the backbone of the DNA molecule. 575 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:36,501 So yeah. 576 00:25:36,501 --> 00:25:38,803 So it's really cool that so these brines 577 00:25:38,803 --> 00:25:41,673 not only could have helped the organic, 578 00:25:41,673 --> 00:25:45,010 reactions go along, but also 579 00:25:45,110 --> 00:25:46,778 what asteroids like Bennu hit the Earth. 580 00:25:46,778 --> 00:25:47,546 It would have delivered 581 00:25:47,546 --> 00:25:50,048 not only the organic material on the water, 582 00:25:50,048 --> 00:25:51,750 but also this other bio 583 00:25:51,750 --> 00:25:54,753 essential material like phosphate as well. 584 00:25:54,753 --> 00:25:56,488 That's great. That's incredible. 585 00:25:56,488 --> 00:25:57,322 And so one thing 586 00:25:57,322 --> 00:26:00,425 I want to clear up as well, you know, in this finding, 587 00:26:00,425 --> 00:26:04,062 we have found the key ingredients that life needs. 588 00:26:04,362 --> 00:26:07,999 And we have found the broth that could, you know, 589 00:26:07,999 --> 00:26:10,969 spark the chemical reactions for the emergence of life. 590 00:26:11,202 --> 00:26:12,470 But we didn't 591 00:26:12,470 --> 00:26:15,040 we have no evidence that they haven't seen the spark yet. 592 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:16,408 We haven't, I guess not sparked. 593 00:26:16,408 --> 00:26:19,044 And so yeah, we haven't seen any life. 594 00:26:19,044 --> 00:26:20,045 Yeah. Yeah. 595 00:26:20,045 --> 00:26:21,580 Well it sounds like we've got a lot 596 00:26:21,580 --> 00:26:23,882 to look forward to though in these samples as well. 597 00:26:23,882 --> 00:26:24,816 Absolutely. 598 00:26:24,816 --> 00:26:27,118 So, we actually have okay. 599 00:26:27,118 --> 00:26:28,820 We were just talking about carnality 600 00:26:28,820 --> 00:26:32,991 and, the handedness of, of molecules. 601 00:26:32,991 --> 00:26:35,460 We have Peter on YouTube who wants to know 602 00:26:35,460 --> 00:26:38,663 why did these molecules go left, 603 00:26:38,663 --> 00:26:41,666 which I now we see that they can go left or right. 604 00:26:41,866 --> 00:26:43,068 But why. 605 00:26:43,068 --> 00:26:45,403 What was the assumption I guess before these. Yeah. 606 00:26:45,403 --> 00:26:47,906 So that that's, that's a so it was Peter. 607 00:26:47,906 --> 00:26:49,341 Yeah. It's a great, great question. 608 00:26:49,341 --> 00:26:50,008 I mean and this is, 609 00:26:50,008 --> 00:26:51,509 this is really the million dollar question 610 00:26:51,509 --> 00:26:53,111 that we're still trying to work out 611 00:26:53,111 --> 00:26:56,715 now prior to this, this mission, we had some evidence 612 00:26:56,715 --> 00:26:57,949 from meteorites, 613 00:26:57,949 --> 00:27:00,585 that there was this excess of some of the protein, 614 00:27:00,585 --> 00:27:02,654 amino acids, the left handed form, 615 00:27:02,654 --> 00:27:06,024 up to 60% more in some cases of the left handed. 616 00:27:06,024 --> 00:27:08,727 So actually, I was personally expecting 617 00:27:08,727 --> 00:27:10,295 when we when we brought these Bennu 618 00:27:10,295 --> 00:27:12,330 samples back because it had a composition 619 00:27:12,330 --> 00:27:13,698 very similar to these meteorites 620 00:27:13,698 --> 00:27:16,701 that we would also find left handed excesses. 621 00:27:16,768 --> 00:27:17,802 But but we didn't, 622 00:27:17,802 --> 00:27:19,671 you know, we found that there were equal mixtures. 623 00:27:19,671 --> 00:27:21,473 And, you know, when I saw this, 624 00:27:21,473 --> 00:27:23,541 I was actually kind of depressed. Yeah. 625 00:27:23,541 --> 00:27:26,211 I, I've been working on about 20 years, 626 00:27:26,211 --> 00:27:27,846 and now let's just flush it down the toilet. 627 00:27:27,846 --> 00:27:30,048 I guess that's honestly how I felt. 628 00:27:30,048 --> 00:27:32,450 But again, this is why we we explore. 629 00:27:32,450 --> 00:27:35,186 This is why we do missions like OSIRIS-REx 630 00:27:35,186 --> 00:27:36,921 to get closer to the truth. 631 00:27:36,921 --> 00:27:41,159 And, you know, again, I this is, you know, early days. 632 00:27:41,159 --> 00:27:42,193 It's one sample. 633 00:27:42,193 --> 00:27:43,094 We're going to be 634 00:27:43,094 --> 00:27:45,430 working on other samples to look at chirality. 635 00:27:45,430 --> 00:27:48,433 But right now I think we can say that the origin of 636 00:27:48,466 --> 00:27:51,469 we call biological homo chirality, left handed 637 00:27:51,670 --> 00:27:53,672 based protein life is it's still a mystery. 638 00:27:54,806 --> 00:27:55,173 Yeah. 639 00:27:55,173 --> 00:27:58,176 And I don't know if you mentioned this earlier, but 640 00:27:59,544 --> 00:28:02,547 what chiral does life on Earth take? 641 00:28:02,580 --> 00:28:04,482 It is mainly left handed, right. 642 00:28:04,482 --> 00:28:05,617 So it's it's left 643 00:28:05,617 --> 00:28:08,720 handed amino acids and right handed sugars that make up. 644 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:11,523 You mentioned the phosphate the sugar phosphate backbone. 645 00:28:11,523 --> 00:28:13,625 So it's it's actually left and right. 646 00:28:13,625 --> 00:28:15,560 So I all you left handers out there 647 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:17,629 we're not you know, dominate in the universe. 648 00:28:17,629 --> 00:28:21,800 Right handers have a role to and the sugars okay. 649 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:23,001 Great. Thank you. 650 00:28:23,001 --> 00:28:25,036 So I got a good question for you. 651 00:28:25,036 --> 00:28:27,038 We have Rashi on YouTube who wants to know 652 00:28:27,038 --> 00:28:28,640 what is what was the age 653 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:31,509 of the sample collected, and how do we know that? 654 00:28:31,509 --> 00:28:33,144 Oh, that is a great question. 655 00:28:33,144 --> 00:28:37,615 So we can, age, date things using radioactive isotopes. 656 00:28:37,615 --> 00:28:39,718 So there's certain isotopes. 657 00:28:39,718 --> 00:28:42,821 For example, uranium is a radioactive element, 658 00:28:43,088 --> 00:28:44,289 and it decays through 659 00:28:44,289 --> 00:28:48,159 a series of intermediaries to, to lead isotopes. 660 00:28:48,159 --> 00:28:49,160 And by looking at 661 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:50,028 how much of these lead 662 00:28:50,028 --> 00:28:53,031 isotopes have built up, we can say how old it is. 663 00:28:53,331 --> 00:28:55,734 And the age dating of the components of 664 00:28:55,734 --> 00:28:57,435 Bennu is still a work in progress. 665 00:28:57,435 --> 00:28:59,237 So we're still working on that. 666 00:28:59,237 --> 00:29:02,507 But, we think it's likely to be the same age as, 667 00:29:02,507 --> 00:29:05,710 similar meteorites that we have in our collection. 668 00:29:05,710 --> 00:29:06,945 So that would put it 669 00:29:06,945 --> 00:29:08,580 right at the beginning of the solar system. 670 00:29:08,580 --> 00:29:12,250 So 4.5 billion years of older. Wow. 671 00:29:12,617 --> 00:29:16,020 I mean, it's crazy to even try to think about a timescale 672 00:29:16,287 --> 00:29:17,388 that long ago. 673 00:29:17,388 --> 00:29:19,791 Yeah. I mean, anything older than the Earth, it's like, wow. 674 00:29:19,791 --> 00:29:23,328 I mean, it really is the fact that we have materials, 675 00:29:23,328 --> 00:29:26,331 you know, that sustain materialistic materials at all. 676 00:29:26,531 --> 00:29:28,366 And we can actually look at this 677 00:29:28,366 --> 00:29:31,436 chemistry in this environment before life even started. 678 00:29:31,636 --> 00:29:32,670 Yeah. It's incredible. 679 00:29:32,670 --> 00:29:34,539 We can't do that with rocks on Earth. 680 00:29:34,539 --> 00:29:34,839 Right. 681 00:29:34,839 --> 00:29:37,342 They've all been processed by plate tectonics. 682 00:29:37,342 --> 00:29:37,909 And the heating 683 00:29:37,909 --> 00:29:40,879 that chemical record on Earth has been wiped out. 684 00:29:41,012 --> 00:29:43,782 And so we're getting that now, that prebiotic record 685 00:29:43,782 --> 00:29:46,184 with Daniel, it's it's incredible. 686 00:29:46,184 --> 00:29:46,818 It is incredible. 687 00:29:46,818 --> 00:29:48,453 It's real privilege to look at this material 688 00:29:48,453 --> 00:29:50,922 that's older than the Earth itself. Yeah. 689 00:29:51,923 --> 00:29:54,325 Danny, I have a clarifying question from, 690 00:29:54,325 --> 00:29:55,894 you know, a conversation we were having earlier. 691 00:29:55,894 --> 00:29:59,664 Someone on YouTube asks, have they felt like have specifically 692 00:29:59,664 --> 00:30:03,401 have they found any living organisms on any meteorites? 693 00:30:04,402 --> 00:30:07,405 The only living organisms on meteorites are from the Earth. 694 00:30:07,639 --> 00:30:08,807 Yeah. 695 00:30:08,807 --> 00:30:10,809 And if anyone knows otherwise, let me know. 696 00:30:10,809 --> 00:30:11,876 Yeah. 697 00:30:11,876 --> 00:30:13,044 But yeah, that's again. 698 00:30:13,044 --> 00:30:14,879 And that's, that's the problem, right? 699 00:30:14,879 --> 00:30:17,415 Is that these meteorites, as soon as they hit, hit, 700 00:30:17,415 --> 00:30:20,952 the soil, you know, hit the Earth that they become 701 00:30:20,952 --> 00:30:23,955 rapidly contaminated with, with biology. 702 00:30:24,455 --> 00:30:26,558 And so I think you were touching on this a little bit earlier, 703 00:30:26,558 --> 00:30:29,561 but Adam on YouTube asks with these findings, 704 00:30:29,761 --> 00:30:32,831 how confident can we be that other bodies 705 00:30:32,831 --> 00:30:35,900 in the solar system, you know, have these contain 706 00:30:35,900 --> 00:30:36,734 these organics 707 00:30:36,734 --> 00:30:40,138 or these environments that might be conducive to, 708 00:30:40,939 --> 00:30:42,273 yeah, cooking them up. Yeah. 709 00:30:42,273 --> 00:30:44,609 So we're becoming increasingly confident 710 00:30:44,609 --> 00:30:48,746 that these are likely to be really widespread processes 711 00:30:48,746 --> 00:30:49,647 because yeah, we do 712 00:30:49,647 --> 00:30:53,418 see some evidence for this on other bodies like Enceladus 713 00:30:53,418 --> 00:30:58,256 and that, you know, water is a very abundant 714 00:30:58,256 --> 00:31:02,293 material in our system, and so is organic material. 715 00:31:02,493 --> 00:31:05,530 And so it just makes sense that, if it happens on Bennu, 716 00:31:05,530 --> 00:31:08,399 it's likely to happen across our solar system. Yeah. 717 00:31:08,399 --> 00:31:10,602 And even, you know, other solar systems. 718 00:31:10,602 --> 00:31:13,638 So I talked about these icy, you know, ice grains. 719 00:31:13,638 --> 00:31:15,473 It could be from the interstellar medium. 720 00:31:15,473 --> 00:31:17,508 There's really nothing 721 00:31:17,508 --> 00:31:19,210 to suggest that the basic building 722 00:31:19,210 --> 00:31:21,045 block chemistry is unique to our solar system. 723 00:31:21,045 --> 00:31:22,480 So this is this is exciting. 724 00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:25,483 You know, as we explore exoplanets, you know, 725 00:31:25,850 --> 00:31:27,785 you know, it should be looking for life there as well. 726 00:31:27,785 --> 00:31:28,386 Definitely. 727 00:31:29,721 --> 00:31:31,956 So we have universe on YouTube 728 00:31:31,956 --> 00:31:35,860 who asks other than than chemicals that contain life. 729 00:31:35,860 --> 00:31:39,297 So I think they're talking about like, organic molecules. 730 00:31:39,564 --> 00:31:43,268 What was the rarest chemical or substance you guys have found 731 00:31:43,301 --> 00:31:46,304 on the asteroid sample? 732 00:31:47,038 --> 00:31:48,706 We have found, yeah, 733 00:31:48,706 --> 00:31:54,145 lots of fairly rare, substances in Bennu. 734 00:31:54,145 --> 00:31:58,016 So, so one of the exciting things for me was finding, 735 00:31:58,316 --> 00:32:02,186 material that that was floating around in the protoplanetary 736 00:32:02,186 --> 00:32:05,690 disk before, Benny's parent body accreted. 737 00:32:05,690 --> 00:32:09,894 So we do find some tiny grains of minerals 738 00:32:09,894 --> 00:32:12,897 like, at night and out, for example, 739 00:32:13,131 --> 00:32:15,300 which are very, very rare in Bennu. 740 00:32:15,300 --> 00:32:20,071 And we think these may have been among the oldest grains. 741 00:32:20,071 --> 00:32:23,374 And they survived all of this water reaction. 742 00:32:23,975 --> 00:32:25,343 Wow. So they can give us a glimpse 743 00:32:25,343 --> 00:32:28,346 back to what the protoplanetary disk was like at that time. 744 00:32:28,346 --> 00:32:31,516 So so that's a that that's sort of my favorite rare thing. 745 00:32:32,450 --> 00:32:33,918 Anything rare on the organics side. 746 00:32:33,918 --> 00:32:36,721 Well, actually, I was, I was I was going to say no. 747 00:32:36,721 --> 00:32:40,158 But now that I think about it, you know, we actually found, 33 748 00:32:40,558 --> 00:32:43,895 amino acids in total detected in the Bennu samples. 749 00:32:44,062 --> 00:32:45,663 14 were protein amino acids, 750 00:32:45,663 --> 00:32:49,634 but the other 19 were non protein not found in biology. 751 00:32:49,634 --> 00:32:51,803 And in fact we're finding some amino acids 752 00:32:51,803 --> 00:32:54,806 that don't even occur naturally on the Earth. 753 00:32:54,939 --> 00:32:56,007 They truly are rare. 754 00:32:56,007 --> 00:32:57,709 So these nine protein amino acids. 755 00:32:57,709 --> 00:32:59,477 So have you seen them in meteorites before. 756 00:32:59,477 --> 00:33:00,812 We have seen them in meteorites. 757 00:33:00,812 --> 00:33:02,347 But I just wanted to make that point. 758 00:33:02,347 --> 00:33:02,647 You know, 759 00:33:02,647 --> 00:33:04,115 we're seeing the building blocks of life, 760 00:33:04,115 --> 00:33:07,185 but we're also seeing these other similar compounds 761 00:33:07,185 --> 00:33:10,254 that for whatever reason, weren't weren't used by life. 762 00:33:10,254 --> 00:33:13,191 So that's a whole another mystery in and of itself. 763 00:33:13,191 --> 00:33:16,861 Why did life choose those 20 years when there were hundreds 764 00:33:17,095 --> 00:33:18,296 of amino acids available? 765 00:33:18,296 --> 00:33:21,065 And so are the amino acids you're talking about 766 00:33:21,065 --> 00:33:25,036 from what we know, only formed in space or material 767 00:33:25,036 --> 00:33:26,537 that has come from space. 768 00:33:26,537 --> 00:33:28,840 Well, we can make them in the lab, of course. 769 00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:30,808 But yeah, the fact that these 770 00:33:30,808 --> 00:33:32,677 some of these really rare non protein 771 00:33:32,677 --> 00:33:34,412 amino acids, were formed in 772 00:33:34,412 --> 00:33:36,781 these is really an interesting question. You know, why? 773 00:33:37,749 --> 00:33:40,051 You know, of course biology has taken over on the earth 774 00:33:40,051 --> 00:33:42,620 and that's why the 20 are the most common ones here. 775 00:33:42,620 --> 00:33:44,589 But, it's really interesting to think 776 00:33:44,589 --> 00:33:46,891 that a lot more was probably available 777 00:33:46,891 --> 00:33:48,659 early on in that prebiotic soup. 778 00:33:48,659 --> 00:33:50,862 And why did why did life choose the 20? 779 00:33:50,862 --> 00:33:52,397 I don't have the answer to that. 780 00:33:52,397 --> 00:33:54,499 Yeah, so much had to have gone right. 781 00:33:54,499 --> 00:33:58,236 It seems like, for us to be here today. 782 00:33:58,936 --> 00:34:02,440 So I have Ion Riddle on X, who wants to know? 783 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:05,143 Could it have been Venus parent asteroid 784 00:34:05,143 --> 00:34:08,146 that struck Earth 65 million years ago? 785 00:34:08,679 --> 00:34:10,915 It's a tough one. 786 00:34:10,915 --> 00:34:11,816 That is a tough one. 787 00:34:11,816 --> 00:34:12,950 So there is some evidence. 788 00:34:12,950 --> 00:34:17,188 So that so this is the impact that crashed into Earth 789 00:34:17,388 --> 00:34:19,624 and was responsible for killing the dinosaurs. 790 00:34:19,624 --> 00:34:22,760 And most of other life on Earth at that time. 791 00:34:23,061 --> 00:34:24,028 And there is some evidence 792 00:34:24,028 --> 00:34:25,730 that it's an outer solar system body. 793 00:34:25,730 --> 00:34:26,531 So it may have been 794 00:34:26,531 --> 00:34:30,068 something, related to Bennu, but we don't know. 795 00:34:30,735 --> 00:34:33,438 I believe we don't know enough about it to know exactly 796 00:34:33,438 --> 00:34:36,441 whether, it was how similar it was to Bennu. 797 00:34:36,741 --> 00:34:38,576 Yeah, yeah, I'll just make one quick 798 00:34:38,576 --> 00:34:41,679 follow up to that, actually, there's these boundary. 799 00:34:41,712 --> 00:34:42,914 They call CT. 800 00:34:42,914 --> 00:34:46,851 Maybe it has a new name, but, that 66, 65 million year 801 00:34:46,851 --> 00:34:47,585 old boundary. 802 00:34:47,585 --> 00:34:50,154 We actually found some of these rare I call 803 00:34:50,154 --> 00:34:53,391 the non protein amino acids alpha amino acid butyric acid. 804 00:34:53,391 --> 00:34:55,393 I know it's a mouthful I believe. 805 00:34:55,393 --> 00:34:57,228 But that was found in high concentration. 806 00:34:57,228 --> 00:34:59,630 No way long with iridium at that layer. 807 00:34:59,630 --> 00:35:02,934 Again suggesting that you know, one of these asteroids 808 00:35:03,034 --> 00:35:07,805 possibly like Bennu hit and not only killed the dinosaurs, 809 00:35:07,805 --> 00:35:10,975 but delivered, yeah, amino acids to the Earth. So. 810 00:35:11,342 --> 00:35:13,044 Yeah. Wow. 811 00:35:13,044 --> 00:35:15,613 Well, I have a great question for for both of you. 812 00:35:15,613 --> 00:35:17,582 It's from Coyne on Twitch. 813 00:35:17,582 --> 00:35:19,016 Who wants to know? 814 00:35:19,016 --> 00:35:20,151 When you were kids, 815 00:35:21,219 --> 00:35:23,087 did you one day think that 816 00:35:23,087 --> 00:35:27,225 you were going to be analyzed life related samples from space. 817 00:35:28,092 --> 00:35:32,730 So, for me, no. 818 00:35:33,097 --> 00:35:33,397 Yeah. 819 00:35:33,397 --> 00:35:33,698 I mean, 820 00:35:33,698 --> 00:35:37,268 I will be honest with you, I was never very into biology, 821 00:35:37,668 --> 00:35:39,704 but what I was interested in was geology. 822 00:35:39,704 --> 00:35:43,274 So I used to collect rocks and I was also into space. 823 00:35:43,274 --> 00:35:45,877 So I loved watching things like this. 824 00:35:45,877 --> 00:35:48,146 I loved hearing about NASA missions and, 825 00:35:48,146 --> 00:35:49,914 yeah, I really kind of devoured 826 00:35:49,914 --> 00:35:52,049 everything that was going on in space exploration. 827 00:35:52,049 --> 00:35:53,684 So I feel really lucky now 828 00:35:53,684 --> 00:35:56,287 to be involved in this, this space mission. 829 00:35:56,287 --> 00:36:00,191 And it's been it's sort of, you know, exciting twist for me. 830 00:36:00,191 --> 00:36:00,525 Yeah. 831 00:36:00,525 --> 00:36:03,261 But, our work has kind of put us 832 00:36:03,261 --> 00:36:06,230 in the direction of thinking about the ingredients for life. 833 00:36:06,230 --> 00:36:08,933 So that's really fun. Yeah. What about you, Danny? 834 00:36:08,933 --> 00:36:09,834 Yeah. The same. 835 00:36:09,834 --> 00:36:13,237 I mean, I couldn't have dreamed of being an astrobiologist. 836 00:36:13,237 --> 00:36:14,338 I didn't think I knew what 837 00:36:14,338 --> 00:36:16,841 that was as a kid, but I did love rocks. 838 00:36:16,841 --> 00:36:17,575 Just like you. 839 00:36:18,709 --> 00:36:21,712 And I drew, you know, pictures of aliens and the space shuttle. 840 00:36:21,712 --> 00:36:23,714 And so, yeah, maybe not a big shock 841 00:36:23,714 --> 00:36:26,150 that I, you know, I'm now studying space rocks. 842 00:36:26,150 --> 00:36:29,587 But actually, in college, you know, I was I got into physics 843 00:36:29,987 --> 00:36:30,555 and I thought 844 00:36:30,555 --> 00:36:33,591 I wanted to study black holes and then something big happened. 845 00:36:33,591 --> 00:36:35,193 In 1996, 846 00:36:35,193 --> 00:36:37,061 there was an announcement of the Allen Hills 847 00:36:37,061 --> 00:36:40,565 8401 Martian meteorite that was found in Antarctica, 848 00:36:40,798 --> 00:36:44,569 reported to contain evidence of, Martian life. 849 00:36:44,902 --> 00:36:46,671 And I think at that moment, you know, 850 00:36:46,671 --> 00:36:48,039 that changed everything for me. 851 00:36:48,039 --> 00:36:48,439 Yeah. 852 00:36:48,439 --> 00:36:48,839 I'm like, 853 00:36:48,839 --> 00:36:50,408 just the idea that meteorites 854 00:36:50,408 --> 00:36:52,810 could be transporting the building blocks, 855 00:36:52,810 --> 00:36:55,713 you know, seeding, you know, life throughout the. 856 00:36:55,713 --> 00:36:56,981 So I was hooked. 857 00:36:56,981 --> 00:36:58,883 I'm like, I've got to get into astrobiology now. 858 00:36:58,883 --> 00:37:00,651 I got to study these rocks. Wow. 859 00:37:00,651 --> 00:37:02,687 I got to look for evidence of life. 860 00:37:02,687 --> 00:37:06,324 And, So, yeah, I mean, I hope some of the viewers are finding 861 00:37:06,457 --> 00:37:08,192 inspiration from this announcement. 862 00:37:08,192 --> 00:37:09,126 And, you know, 863 00:37:09,126 --> 00:37:12,330 maybe this will encourage you to to get into this field. 864 00:37:12,330 --> 00:37:14,432 We need more people working on it. 865 00:37:14,432 --> 00:37:15,800 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 866 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:19,570 I mean, it's answering some of humanity's biggest questions. 867 00:37:19,570 --> 00:37:20,905 And so one thing that I think 868 00:37:20,905 --> 00:37:22,807 is really cool about this mission 869 00:37:22,807 --> 00:37:25,643 is that we are saving some samples, right? 870 00:37:25,643 --> 00:37:29,447 Some are being specially, you know, like contained 871 00:37:29,447 --> 00:37:31,949 for the next generation of scientists 872 00:37:31,949 --> 00:37:34,952 and astrobiologists and mineralogist to sample with, 873 00:37:35,253 --> 00:37:37,822 you know, cutting edge technology as well. 874 00:37:37,822 --> 00:37:38,422 Absolutely. 875 00:37:38,422 --> 00:37:41,726 So we've only used a tiny fraction of the hunt. 876 00:37:41,726 --> 00:37:44,428 We happen to know how much of the fraction has been used. 877 00:37:45,596 --> 00:37:46,931 Oh, God. No. 878 00:37:46,931 --> 00:37:47,865 It's okay. Yeah. 879 00:37:47,865 --> 00:37:50,868 No. It's very our friends in the Commons, 880 00:37:51,836 --> 00:37:53,571 they got us are experts in the Commons. 881 00:37:53,571 --> 00:37:54,372 Can help us out with that. 882 00:37:54,372 --> 00:37:54,972 Yeah. 883 00:37:54,972 --> 00:37:57,575 I'm not great with numbers like that, but, Yeah still 884 00:37:57,575 --> 00:38:00,678 most of it is available and, and that's fantastic. 885 00:38:00,678 --> 00:38:04,882 And some of it's being, deep frozen so kept, 886 00:38:04,882 --> 00:38:07,451 at cryogenic temperatures to make sure that it stays 887 00:38:07,451 --> 00:38:08,753 super pristine. 888 00:38:08,753 --> 00:38:12,423 And it'll be available for scientists in the next years 889 00:38:12,423 --> 00:38:14,125 and the next centuries, even. 890 00:38:14,125 --> 00:38:16,360 Wow. Answer their own questions. 891 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:19,397 So the one number I do know is that more than 70% 892 00:38:19,397 --> 00:38:20,331 of the mass returned, 893 00:38:20,331 --> 00:38:23,334 and we returned about four ounces, 120g. 894 00:38:23,501 --> 00:38:26,170 More than 70% of that will be saved 895 00:38:26,170 --> 00:38:27,471 for the future generations. 896 00:38:27,471 --> 00:38:28,773 So like you mentioned, 897 00:38:28,773 --> 00:38:33,210 the one we've got a sample 7.5g sealed up in a freezer, -80. 898 00:38:33,511 --> 00:38:34,912 And this might be opened 899 00:38:34,912 --> 00:38:36,947 50 years from now, like you recently did 900 00:38:36,947 --> 00:38:39,116 with the Apollo samples. Oh, yeah. 901 00:38:39,116 --> 00:38:41,485 I wasn't even born when they collected the samples. 902 00:38:41,485 --> 00:38:43,020 And now, you know, we're analyzing them. 903 00:38:43,020 --> 00:38:44,588 So the same will be true with these. 904 00:38:44,588 --> 00:38:46,924 There'll be people that aren't even born yet 905 00:38:46,924 --> 00:38:49,960 that will be studying these, samples with 906 00:38:50,094 --> 00:38:52,363 with even technologies that don't even exist, 907 00:38:52,363 --> 00:38:54,632 answering questions they even know how to ask. 908 00:38:54,632 --> 00:38:57,068 I mean, it is it's the gift that keeps on giving. 909 00:38:57,068 --> 00:38:59,270 It really is. Wow. That's beautiful to think about. 910 00:38:59,270 --> 00:39:01,405 Yeah. So back to the sample. 911 00:39:01,405 --> 00:39:03,741 We have Angel lady on Twitch who asks, 912 00:39:03,741 --> 00:39:07,445 could you explain the process of how the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft 913 00:39:07,578 --> 00:39:10,081 collected and returned this sample? 914 00:39:11,182 --> 00:39:11,649 Right. 915 00:39:11,649 --> 00:39:13,451 Okay. So yes. 916 00:39:13,451 --> 00:39:16,454 So the SARS spacecraft spent two years, 917 00:39:16,620 --> 00:39:19,590 getting data from Bennu going around it. 918 00:39:19,590 --> 00:39:21,726 And getting a fantastic 919 00:39:21,726 --> 00:39:24,829 sort of view of what the asteroid was made of. 920 00:39:25,429 --> 00:39:26,197 And then we 921 00:39:26,197 --> 00:39:29,200 very carefully selected which site we'd like to sample. 922 00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:33,871 And on the day of the sampling, this, came out. 923 00:39:34,472 --> 00:39:35,473 Touch the surface. 924 00:39:35,473 --> 00:39:37,408 It's called a touch and go mechanism. 925 00:39:37,408 --> 00:39:40,177 Oh here's a video of it on the screen. 926 00:39:40,177 --> 00:39:40,978 That's fantastic. 927 00:39:40,978 --> 00:39:43,948 So the I believe that's a live video. 928 00:39:43,948 --> 00:39:45,149 Like an actual video. 929 00:39:45,149 --> 00:39:46,550 Yeah. That is an actual video. 930 00:39:46,550 --> 00:39:50,588 And so when the spacecraft was designed, 931 00:39:50,588 --> 00:39:53,257 we were expecting it to be quite a hard surface, 932 00:39:53,257 --> 00:39:55,659 but actually it's very, very porous. 933 00:39:55,659 --> 00:39:57,828 It's like a, a ball pit. 934 00:39:57,828 --> 00:40:02,366 And the arm went straight through, and managed to sample, 935 00:40:02,700 --> 00:40:05,870 this fantastic, collection of material from the surface 936 00:40:05,870 --> 00:40:09,707 on the subsurface and then retracted back with its goodies. 937 00:40:09,874 --> 00:40:10,808 Yeah. 938 00:40:10,808 --> 00:40:12,543 What a cool concept for a mission. 939 00:40:12,543 --> 00:40:13,778 So we actually we have 940 00:40:13,778 --> 00:40:16,781 Sam on YouTube who has a great follow up to this. 941 00:40:16,847 --> 00:40:18,783 They ask, 942 00:40:18,783 --> 00:40:21,352 do we know if the asteroid is hollow 943 00:40:21,352 --> 00:40:24,455 or was it really just this, like big rubble pile 944 00:40:24,455 --> 00:40:27,558 that if you keep going into, there would be no end? 945 00:40:28,159 --> 00:40:28,559 Yeah. 946 00:40:28,559 --> 00:40:30,561 I mean, it's definitely not hollow. 947 00:40:30,561 --> 00:40:32,763 You know, it's not like, you know, 948 00:40:32,763 --> 00:40:36,133 I don't know shell shell, it's a rubble power. 949 00:40:36,133 --> 00:40:37,034 So it's these loose, 950 00:40:37,034 --> 00:40:39,370 you know, boulders that are loosely held together. 951 00:40:39,370 --> 00:40:40,938 You know, we plunged in. 952 00:40:40,938 --> 00:40:42,740 That was totally not predicted. 953 00:40:42,740 --> 00:40:45,209 I mean, fortunately, the back way. 954 00:40:45,209 --> 00:40:47,978 Thrusters, they were on timers. They got us out of there. 955 00:40:47,978 --> 00:40:49,947 Because if not, you can expect a very. 956 00:40:49,947 --> 00:40:51,282 What have swallowed the spacecraft. 957 00:40:51,282 --> 00:40:54,118 Wow. That was actually a very, very scary moment. 958 00:40:54,118 --> 00:40:57,922 But everything worked out, and so, yeah, it's not hollow, 959 00:40:57,922 --> 00:40:59,390 but there are a lot of voids, 960 00:40:59,390 --> 00:41:01,559 a lot of void space in between these boulders. 961 00:41:01,559 --> 00:41:02,827 Yeah. 962 00:41:02,827 --> 00:41:04,094 Was there anything that. 963 00:41:04,094 --> 00:41:06,263 I mean, you said it was a scary moment. 964 00:41:06,263 --> 00:41:07,765 Was there anything unexpected 965 00:41:07,765 --> 00:41:09,800 with this mission, the sample return? 966 00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:11,602 Oh, well, it wasn't. 967 00:41:11,602 --> 00:41:11,936 Yeah. 968 00:41:11,936 --> 00:41:14,338 I mean, there were lots of things expected. 969 00:41:14,338 --> 00:41:16,574 So one thing that we found is that Bennu's 970 00:41:16,574 --> 00:41:17,942 what's called an active asteroid. 971 00:41:17,942 --> 00:41:19,844 So every so often, 972 00:41:19,844 --> 00:41:20,511 there'll 973 00:41:20,511 --> 00:41:23,714 be like a shoot of a gas coming off from the surface of it. 974 00:41:24,014 --> 00:41:26,383 And that was kind of exciting, but also scary 975 00:41:26,383 --> 00:41:29,286 because we worried the health of the spacecraft. So. 976 00:41:29,286 --> 00:41:31,722 Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. We're moving slow. 977 00:41:31,722 --> 00:41:33,891 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 978 00:41:33,891 --> 00:41:35,292 So there was that. 979 00:41:35,292 --> 00:41:38,596 And then when the sample, 980 00:41:38,596 --> 00:41:41,966 mechanism came back, it was slightly leaking. 981 00:41:41,966 --> 00:41:43,567 So some bits were coming out. 982 00:41:43,567 --> 00:41:45,636 And so that meant it had to be stowed really quickly 983 00:41:45,636 --> 00:41:47,838 to make sure that we could keep the sample safe. 984 00:41:47,838 --> 00:41:48,105 Yeah. 985 00:41:48,105 --> 00:41:49,039 That was 986 00:41:49,039 --> 00:41:52,376 you remember those the images, the video of particles 987 00:41:52,376 --> 00:41:54,345 coming out of the tagsam head, I think. Yeah. 988 00:41:54,345 --> 00:41:55,145 Yeah, there it is. 989 00:41:55,145 --> 00:41:58,649 Oh, and I'll never forget I remember the Pi trailer 990 00:41:58,649 --> 00:42:00,351 out of saying at this moment, oh my God, 991 00:42:00,351 --> 00:42:03,087 every particle of somebody's PhD thesis. 992 00:42:03,087 --> 00:42:03,954 But yeah, we lose it. 993 00:42:03,954 --> 00:42:06,357 And so yeah, it was, it was intense. 994 00:42:06,357 --> 00:42:10,861 But again, you know, we got 120g back more than two times. 995 00:42:11,195 --> 00:42:12,463 Wow. Mission requirements. 996 00:42:12,463 --> 00:42:15,199 So we still got a bounty. Yeah. We material. 997 00:42:16,534 --> 00:42:19,370 Our next question is from Sam who's on Twitch, 998 00:42:19,370 --> 00:42:22,706 who asks what are the next steps regarding 999 00:42:22,706 --> 00:42:25,709 this research and findings? 1000 00:42:26,010 --> 00:42:28,646 Well, for me, one of the big questions is 1001 00:42:28,646 --> 00:42:29,980 we still we 1002 00:42:29,980 --> 00:42:31,582 we know that there were these brines, 1003 00:42:31,582 --> 00:42:33,617 but we don't know very much about the timing. 1004 00:42:33,617 --> 00:42:36,020 So we expect that the brines 1005 00:42:36,020 --> 00:42:38,389 perform very early in the solar system, 1006 00:42:38,389 --> 00:42:39,857 maybe just a few million years 1007 00:42:39,857 --> 00:42:42,059 after Bennu's parent body accreted. 1008 00:42:42,059 --> 00:42:43,027 But we don't know for sure. 1009 00:42:43,027 --> 00:42:45,696 So I'd love to know more about the whole timing, 1010 00:42:45,696 --> 00:42:47,097 about the alteration of Bennu. 1011 00:42:47,097 --> 00:42:50,634 That's my my big ask if the next few months. 1012 00:42:51,302 --> 00:42:52,469 And what about you? 1013 00:42:52,469 --> 00:42:53,404 What about your research? 1014 00:42:53,404 --> 00:42:53,771 Yeah. 1015 00:42:53,771 --> 00:42:54,605 So we we 1016 00:42:54,605 --> 00:42:57,608 you know, we talked about going from the building blocks 1017 00:42:57,775 --> 00:43:00,911 of the amino acids to more complex structures, structures 1018 00:43:00,911 --> 00:43:04,081 like proteins or nucleic acid like molecules. 1019 00:43:04,081 --> 00:43:07,084 And so we do now have a much larger 1020 00:43:07,084 --> 00:43:11,589 sample of Bennu, about six grams, that we're going to use 1021 00:43:11,589 --> 00:43:14,592 to look for these more complex polymers. 1022 00:43:14,625 --> 00:43:17,461 The peptides, you know, the amino acids that form chains 1023 00:43:17,461 --> 00:43:21,565 and maybe compounds that look more like DNA or nucleotides. 1024 00:43:22,066 --> 00:43:23,634 So we'll see what we find. 1025 00:43:23,634 --> 00:43:24,134 I think that 1026 00:43:24,134 --> 00:43:25,302 if they're they're they're present 1027 00:43:25,302 --> 00:43:28,539 at very low concentrations, which is why we need more sample 1028 00:43:28,939 --> 00:43:29,540 to find them. 1029 00:43:29,540 --> 00:43:31,008 But we're going to look 1030 00:43:31,008 --> 00:43:32,042 with the best instruments 1031 00:43:32,042 --> 00:43:34,812 we have on Earth to look for these. Yeah. 1032 00:43:34,812 --> 00:43:39,350 And both of your two teams be continuing your research. 1033 00:43:39,350 --> 00:43:40,651 Or is this 1034 00:43:40,651 --> 00:43:42,419 is this analysis that might be done 1035 00:43:42,419 --> 00:43:44,455 by another group of scientists, 1036 00:43:44,455 --> 00:43:45,623 or will you still have your 1037 00:43:45,623 --> 00:43:48,359 hands on the on the samples and be looking at them? 1038 00:43:48,359 --> 00:43:51,195 Well, the mission finishes in September 2025. 1039 00:43:51,195 --> 00:43:52,763 So at that point the sample analysis 1040 00:43:52,763 --> 00:43:54,498 team, it's work is done. 1041 00:43:54,498 --> 00:43:57,134 We give the samples back to the Johnson Space Center. 1042 00:43:57,134 --> 00:44:00,204 But at that point or even at the moment, 1043 00:44:00,204 --> 00:44:04,108 anyone can request a sample, to use for their research. 1044 00:44:04,108 --> 00:44:05,843 So if we have outstanding questions, 1045 00:44:05,843 --> 00:44:09,513 we can just put in a request to have a bit of sample 1046 00:44:09,513 --> 00:44:12,149 to work with. Wow. Yeah, it's pretty exciting that. 1047 00:44:12,149 --> 00:44:14,652 And these samples are literally open request that 1048 00:44:14,652 --> 00:44:17,121 anybody in the science community that, you know, 1049 00:44:17,121 --> 00:44:19,623 has a, a technique and a good idea 1050 00:44:19,623 --> 00:44:22,326 and has demonstrated on meteorites, right. 1051 00:44:22,326 --> 00:44:23,227 Yeah. 1052 00:44:23,227 --> 00:44:26,230 Can can ask NASA Johnson Space Center for. 1053 00:44:26,330 --> 00:44:29,133 Yeah, write a proposal and request sample. 1054 00:44:29,133 --> 00:44:29,900 That's wonderful. 1055 00:44:30,934 --> 00:44:31,869 Our next question 1056 00:44:31,869 --> 00:44:34,938 is from Cookie Jar on Twitch. 1057 00:44:34,938 --> 00:44:36,206 Who wants to know? 1058 00:44:36,206 --> 00:44:39,209 You know, from these findings what we've learned. 1059 00:44:39,276 --> 00:44:40,444 Does that mean that the 1060 00:44:40,444 --> 00:44:43,580 early building blocks of life that started on 1061 00:44:43,580 --> 00:44:46,583 Earth could have come from asteroids? 1062 00:44:46,617 --> 00:44:47,785 Danny? 1063 00:44:47,785 --> 00:44:49,787 I mean, I think we can't rule that out. 1064 00:44:49,787 --> 00:44:51,889 I mean, this is really the big theory of this. 1065 00:44:51,889 --> 00:44:54,391 We call it the genius delivery theory. 1066 00:44:54,391 --> 00:44:55,859 Actually, there's a theory. 1067 00:44:55,859 --> 00:44:59,430 You know, life on Earth started because of, asteroids 1068 00:44:59,430 --> 00:45:02,232 like Bennu and the fragments, meteorites, interplanetary 1069 00:45:02,232 --> 00:45:05,335 dust particles that delivered this organic material, 1070 00:45:05,335 --> 00:45:05,969 the building blocks. 1071 00:45:05,969 --> 00:45:08,539 So I think that the analyzes that we've done at 1072 00:45:08,539 --> 00:45:11,942 Bennu have certainly adding more credibility to that theory. 1073 00:45:12,476 --> 00:45:15,479 But, you know, the bottom line is, we don't know, 1074 00:45:16,180 --> 00:45:18,716 we can't go back in time 4 billion years ago 1075 00:45:18,716 --> 00:45:20,451 to see exactly how it started. 1076 00:45:20,451 --> 00:45:21,852 But it's it's looking pretty good 1077 00:45:21,852 --> 00:45:24,088 that at least asteroids had some role 1078 00:45:24,088 --> 00:45:26,724 in bringing the building blocks to Earth. 1079 00:45:26,724 --> 00:45:27,191 And, Danny, 1080 00:45:27,191 --> 00:45:31,729 I have a follow up from Ivan Levin's on X, who asks, so the 1081 00:45:32,896 --> 00:45:34,598 so the evidence is leading 1082 00:45:34,598 --> 00:45:37,601 towards us not being alone in the universe. 1083 00:45:39,169 --> 00:45:40,671 What would you say to that? 1084 00:45:40,671 --> 00:45:43,340 I mean, yeah, I mean, this again, 1085 00:45:43,340 --> 00:45:46,210 these these chemical building blocks of life, the stuff 1086 00:45:46,210 --> 00:45:49,313 that makes you and I up, all our viewers, we're 1087 00:45:49,313 --> 00:45:52,750 all made of the same stuff, is being formed in space 1088 00:45:53,250 --> 00:45:55,319 and is spread throughout the solar system. 1089 00:45:55,319 --> 00:45:57,321 And not only the organic compounds, 1090 00:45:57,321 --> 00:46:01,291 but the environments, these these, these briny, salty, 1091 00:46:01,291 --> 00:46:04,328 you know, fluids were there to, to, to even drive 1092 00:46:04,328 --> 00:46:05,362 more complex chemistry. 1093 00:46:05,362 --> 00:46:08,365 So I'm definitely becoming more optimistic, 1094 00:46:08,766 --> 00:46:11,769 in our search for life, even in our own solar system, 1095 00:46:12,002 --> 00:46:15,005 because the building blocks are there everywhere 1096 00:46:15,672 --> 00:46:18,375 in. Sarah, my next question is from for you, from, 1097 00:46:18,375 --> 00:46:21,311 one of our followers on X, who wants to know? 1098 00:46:21,311 --> 00:46:24,381 Do experts believe that these organic materials 1099 00:46:24,381 --> 00:46:28,051 or these environments reside all over the asteroid belt? 1100 00:46:29,219 --> 00:46:30,921 Yes. So one of the reasons we 1101 00:46:30,921 --> 00:46:32,689 chose Bennu was because we thought 1102 00:46:32,689 --> 00:46:37,161 that it was going to be rich in water and carbon, and it is. 1103 00:46:37,394 --> 00:46:38,762 So it's a type of, 1104 00:46:38,762 --> 00:46:42,332 asteroid called a C-type or carbon rich type. 1105 00:46:42,633 --> 00:46:46,336 And that sort of asteroid is actually pretty common around, 1106 00:46:46,336 --> 00:46:47,271 our solar system. 1107 00:46:47,271 --> 00:46:50,340 So, absolutely, these things we expect will be 1108 00:46:50,340 --> 00:46:53,343 pretty widespread across our solar system. 1109 00:46:53,477 --> 00:46:57,481 And, we have K powers on Twitch who asks? 1110 00:46:58,182 --> 00:47:00,250 One, was there water on the asteroid on 1111 00:47:00,250 --> 00:47:03,253 which we know that there is but two, you know, 1112 00:47:03,720 --> 00:47:06,723 is it common for asteroids to have water? 1113 00:47:07,524 --> 00:47:08,826 It is pretty common. Yeah. 1114 00:47:08,826 --> 00:47:09,793 So, yeah. 1115 00:47:09,793 --> 00:47:12,362 So this sort of asteroid, the C-type asteroid, 1116 00:47:12,362 --> 00:47:14,164 one of its characteristics 1117 00:47:14,164 --> 00:47:16,433 is that we think it does have water, 1118 00:47:16,433 --> 00:47:19,403 and that's something we can often see even from space, 1119 00:47:19,403 --> 00:47:23,841 because it has a particular, signature that, only water has. 1120 00:47:23,841 --> 00:47:24,708 So we can see that 1121 00:47:24,708 --> 00:47:28,745 many of these asteroids do contain water, not liquid water. 1122 00:47:28,745 --> 00:47:31,348 I would that's going to be my follow up question. 1123 00:47:31,348 --> 00:47:33,750 No, but, water in the form of clay. 1124 00:47:33,750 --> 00:47:36,420 So basically they're like a ball of mud. 1125 00:47:36,420 --> 00:47:36,920 Yeah. 1126 00:47:36,920 --> 00:47:39,122 But there certainly are environments in the air. 1127 00:47:39,122 --> 00:47:41,491 So, you know, we talked about Enceladus. Oh, yeah. Sure. 1128 00:47:41,491 --> 00:47:44,561 These are icy moons that we believe have oceans. 1129 00:47:44,561 --> 00:47:45,162 Oh for sure. 1130 00:47:45,162 --> 00:47:47,331 After the asteroid, maybe even Ceres. 1131 00:47:47,331 --> 00:47:47,898 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 1132 00:47:47,898 --> 00:47:48,332 And so 1133 00:47:48,332 --> 00:47:49,933 there are clearly environments 1134 00:47:49,933 --> 00:47:52,102 that that may even have life today. 1135 00:47:52,102 --> 00:47:54,104 We just have to go there and and look for it. 1136 00:47:54,104 --> 00:47:55,873 Yes. Yeah. Lots to explore 1137 00:47:56,840 --> 00:47:58,108 into our next question. 1138 00:47:58,108 --> 00:48:01,111 Danny, this is for you on X. 1139 00:48:01,111 --> 00:48:02,279 From one of our users on X. 1140 00:48:02,279 --> 00:48:03,080 He wants to know 1141 00:48:03,080 --> 00:48:07,551 did you find and forgive me as I pronounce this, 1142 00:48:08,318 --> 00:48:12,890 pyrimidines or Pyrenees or other basic building blocks of life. 1143 00:48:12,890 --> 00:48:15,559 Yeah. So I think it's purines and pyrimidines. 1144 00:48:15,559 --> 00:48:18,362 I, your engine permitting. And indeed. Yeah. 1145 00:48:18,362 --> 00:48:21,531 So the five nuclear bases, you know, we found, you know, 1146 00:48:21,531 --> 00:48:25,335 adenine siding, cytosine, guanine, thymine, uracil. 1147 00:48:25,335 --> 00:48:25,669 Right. 1148 00:48:25,669 --> 00:48:29,873 All five and, cytosine, thymine and oh, there we go. 1149 00:48:29,873 --> 00:48:31,208 And I slide so I don't. 1150 00:48:31,208 --> 00:48:33,710 And your cell are what are known are pyrimidine. 1151 00:48:33,710 --> 00:48:34,878 These are pyrimidines. 1152 00:48:34,878 --> 00:48:38,115 And then the pure innate purines adenine and guanine. 1153 00:48:38,215 --> 00:48:39,049 You see there. 1154 00:48:39,049 --> 00:48:40,250 So there are different structures. 1155 00:48:40,250 --> 00:48:41,919 Opinions are a little larger. Right. 1156 00:48:41,919 --> 00:48:43,287 They have these two rings 1157 00:48:43,287 --> 00:48:45,122 whereas the pyrimidines have single rings. 1158 00:48:45,122 --> 00:48:48,558 And again, all of these have been discovered in the samples. 1159 00:48:49,192 --> 00:48:52,763 And what is the significance of these molecules. So 1160 00:48:52,763 --> 00:48:57,301 when we're thinking about life and building blocks of life. 1161 00:48:58,135 --> 00:48:59,870 Yeah I mean like we said, these are 1162 00:48:59,870 --> 00:49:01,805 these are the genetic components of DNA. 1163 00:49:01,805 --> 00:49:03,640 This is the genetic code, right? 1164 00:49:03,640 --> 00:49:05,075 The components of that. 1165 00:49:05,075 --> 00:49:07,511 So that's the significance. I mean, we don't we don't exist. 1166 00:49:07,511 --> 00:49:09,112 Biology doesn't exist as we know it 1167 00:49:09,112 --> 00:49:12,716 without this ability to replicate, imperfectly 1168 00:49:12,716 --> 00:49:16,620 and evolve, with DNA and RNA and nucleic acids. 1169 00:49:16,620 --> 00:49:18,422 So this is fundamental 1170 00:49:18,422 --> 00:49:19,323 fundamental chemistry 1171 00:49:19,323 --> 00:49:20,424 here, and it's mind 1172 00:49:20,424 --> 00:49:23,460 boggling that, again, it's found in samples of an asteroid 1173 00:49:23,460 --> 00:49:25,762 that is currently in space right now. 1174 00:49:25,762 --> 00:49:28,498 And so incredible to think about. 1175 00:49:28,498 --> 00:49:29,666 Yeah. 1176 00:49:29,666 --> 00:49:34,037 Our next question is from Sky Cracker on Twitch. 1177 00:49:34,037 --> 00:49:35,038 Who wants to know 1178 00:49:35,038 --> 00:49:37,407 where can we read about your research 1179 00:49:37,407 --> 00:49:39,176 if we're interested in learning more? 1180 00:49:39,176 --> 00:49:41,311 That's a great question, Sarah. 1181 00:49:41,311 --> 00:49:42,980 That is a great question. 1182 00:49:42,980 --> 00:49:46,850 So, Danny's team and our team, just published papers, 1183 00:49:47,050 --> 00:49:50,253 that came out yesterday in Nature and Nature astronomy. 1184 00:49:50,387 --> 00:49:54,057 So you can read the original research there, 1185 00:49:54,858 --> 00:49:57,194 and, it's open, open access. 1186 00:49:57,194 --> 00:49:58,895 Open access. Anyone? Great. 1187 00:49:58,895 --> 00:50:00,664 Anybody can. Yep. 1188 00:50:00,664 --> 00:50:04,401 Yes. And, NASA have, picked it up, writing 1189 00:50:04,401 --> 00:50:08,005 some articles for lay people as well to be able to, to read. 1190 00:50:08,438 --> 00:50:10,040 That's wonderful. 1191 00:50:10,040 --> 00:50:10,941 Thank you both. 1192 00:50:10,941 --> 00:50:12,743 My next question is for Danny. 1193 00:50:12,743 --> 00:50:15,012 So we have Dorian Gray on Twitch, 1194 00:50:15,012 --> 00:50:17,781 who asks when talking about the building blocks of life 1195 00:50:17,781 --> 00:50:18,682 on Bennu. 1196 00:50:18,682 --> 00:50:19,649 Do you mean things 1197 00:50:19,649 --> 00:50:24,121 that could have led to life or past traces of life? 1198 00:50:24,287 --> 00:50:25,222 Yeah. That's that. 1199 00:50:25,222 --> 00:50:27,624 This is a really important thank you for the question. 1200 00:50:27,624 --> 00:50:29,092 Because let's be clear, 1201 00:50:29,092 --> 00:50:30,594 we're finding the chemical building 1202 00:50:30,594 --> 00:50:33,930 blocks, things that could have eventually assembled together, 1203 00:50:34,097 --> 00:50:37,200 right, to form something that's closer to life as we know it. 1204 00:50:37,200 --> 00:50:40,203 You know, DNA, RNA, large proteins. 1205 00:50:40,370 --> 00:50:42,639 We're not finding those complex molecules. 1206 00:50:42,639 --> 00:50:45,642 And we're not finding, you know, life itself. 1207 00:50:46,009 --> 00:50:47,577 We're seeing the building 1208 00:50:47,577 --> 00:50:50,580 blocks, and there's a long way to go, chemically speaking, 1209 00:50:50,647 --> 00:50:53,884 to get from the building blocks that we see to to life itself, 1210 00:50:54,518 --> 00:50:56,887 how that happened, how long that took. 1211 00:50:56,887 --> 00:50:59,189 That's a that's a that's kind of an open question. Yeah. 1212 00:50:59,189 --> 00:51:00,757 That we're trying to figure out. 1213 00:51:02,259 --> 00:51:04,561 And we have next for Sarah. 1214 00:51:04,561 --> 00:51:06,496 We have someone on Twitch who wants to know 1215 00:51:06,496 --> 00:51:08,698 why was Bennu chosen for the mission? 1216 00:51:08,698 --> 00:51:11,268 I know you hit a little bit on this earlier, 1217 00:51:11,268 --> 00:51:11,668 but I think 1218 00:51:11,668 --> 00:51:13,303 it's a really important to drive home, 1219 00:51:13,303 --> 00:51:15,439 especially for all the discoveries 1220 00:51:15,439 --> 00:51:17,074 we've made from the sample. 1221 00:51:17,074 --> 00:51:20,444 Yes. So Bennu was chosen because firstly, 1222 00:51:20,444 --> 00:51:21,645 it's a near-Earth asteroid. 1223 00:51:21,645 --> 00:51:24,414 So it's, it orbits around the sun 1224 00:51:24,414 --> 00:51:26,249 about the same distance as the Earth does. 1225 00:51:26,249 --> 00:51:29,252 So that makes it more accessible to an asteroid? 1226 00:51:29,486 --> 00:51:30,487 It had the right. 1227 00:51:30,487 --> 00:51:32,656 It was in the right place at the right time. 1228 00:51:32,656 --> 00:51:34,424 So that's the first thing. 1229 00:51:34,424 --> 00:51:36,326 And then secondly, we thought, 1230 00:51:36,326 --> 00:51:38,061 we were hopeful 1231 00:51:38,061 --> 00:51:41,565 that this was going to be full of carbon and water 1232 00:51:41,565 --> 00:51:44,534 just from the measurements we could make, from Earth. 1233 00:51:44,534 --> 00:51:47,137 And we wanted to pick an asteroid like that 1234 00:51:47,137 --> 00:51:49,239 because we wanted to write the papers that where 1235 00:51:49,239 --> 00:51:51,641 we're right now. So. Yeah. 1236 00:51:51,641 --> 00:51:52,375 So we managed 1237 00:51:52,375 --> 00:51:54,945 we did pick the right asteroid that we did find one 1238 00:51:54,945 --> 00:51:56,446 that contained water and carbon. 1239 00:51:56,446 --> 00:51:58,115 So that was really important. 1240 00:51:58,115 --> 00:52:01,251 And then the final special thing about Bennu is that, 1241 00:52:01,685 --> 00:52:04,321 it actually has a very small chance 1242 00:52:04,321 --> 00:52:08,458 of hitting the Earth in the very distant future. 1243 00:52:08,458 --> 00:52:10,727 So that was a very small. 1244 00:52:10,727 --> 00:52:12,662 It's small, very small, very small. 1245 00:52:12,662 --> 00:52:14,030 We should not be worried. 1246 00:52:14,030 --> 00:52:16,199 Yes, but that was another reason to go 1247 00:52:16,199 --> 00:52:19,970 and study it in more detail, to look more closely at its orbit 1248 00:52:19,970 --> 00:52:22,439 and how that was affected by the radiation from the sun. 1249 00:52:22,439 --> 00:52:22,639 Yeah. 1250 00:52:22,639 --> 00:52:25,075 I think there's no chance in the next hundred years 1251 00:52:25,075 --> 00:52:27,878 it could hit and I think in 21, 82, 1252 00:52:27,878 --> 00:52:32,516 there's like a 0.04% chance that it could hit in 2182. 1253 00:52:32,516 --> 00:52:34,518 So, I'm not going to lose that some time. 1254 00:52:34,518 --> 00:52:37,454 But we've got yeah, yeah, we've got some time. 1255 00:52:37,454 --> 00:52:39,356 And so I have that Opal guy on YouTube. 1256 00:52:39,356 --> 00:52:41,625 Danny, who wants to know, are there any plans 1257 00:52:41,625 --> 00:52:44,027 to send a mission back to Bennu in the future 1258 00:52:45,462 --> 00:52:47,964 that I currently know that that's a good question. 1259 00:52:47,964 --> 00:52:50,767 I think part of the thing, you know, I mentioned the 1260 00:52:50,767 --> 00:52:54,337 the drive to explore and that's we want to go new places. 1261 00:52:55,338 --> 00:52:56,806 You know, we want to go to series. 1262 00:52:56,806 --> 00:52:58,875 We want to go to comet, we want to go. 1263 00:52:58,875 --> 00:53:01,211 And we actually have a mission now, Clipper 1264 00:53:01,211 --> 00:53:02,946 that's going to go explore Europa. 1265 00:53:02,946 --> 00:53:04,281 Yeah, the icy moons of Jupiter. 1266 00:53:04,281 --> 00:53:07,250 So I think kind of the human tendency is to want to. 1267 00:53:07,384 --> 00:53:07,817 Yeah. 1268 00:53:07,817 --> 00:53:10,320 See new stuff, discover new things and salad us up. 1269 00:53:10,320 --> 00:53:12,088 Put that on the list. Yeah. And so it is. 1270 00:53:12,088 --> 00:53:13,290 I mean, God, there's so many places. 1271 00:53:13,290 --> 00:53:15,859 Yeah, yeah. 1272 00:53:15,859 --> 00:53:18,862 And so my next question is from one of our followers on Twitch 1273 00:53:19,029 --> 00:53:20,964 who wants to know are different teams 1274 00:53:20,964 --> 00:53:23,366 performing different tests on the sample. 1275 00:53:23,366 --> 00:53:25,902 So for example, both of your teams performed 1276 00:53:25,902 --> 00:53:29,806 two totally different, you know, focuses of of this sample. 1277 00:53:29,806 --> 00:53:31,141 Do you know if that's 1278 00:53:31,141 --> 00:53:34,411 the same for everybody that's getting a piece of Bennu? 1279 00:53:34,911 --> 00:53:39,082 Yes. So the way we arranged our analysis was divide up into 1280 00:53:39,416 --> 00:53:40,150 a few teams. 1281 00:53:40,150 --> 00:53:41,451 So there's the mineralogy team 1282 00:53:41,451 --> 00:53:44,321 which I'm on organics team that Danny's on. Cool. 1283 00:53:44,321 --> 00:53:47,691 And then we also have, Elements and Isotope team 1284 00:53:47,924 --> 00:53:50,927 who's looking doing more of a deep dive into the chemistry. 1285 00:53:51,561 --> 00:53:54,030 And we have one a team that's looking at the physical 1286 00:53:54,030 --> 00:53:57,234 properties, things like the density, of Bennu. 1287 00:53:57,234 --> 00:53:59,869 And, what else do we have 1288 00:53:59,869 --> 00:54:01,504 a team looking at the spectral properties. 1289 00:54:01,504 --> 00:54:03,406 So that's that's comparing the data 1290 00:54:03,406 --> 00:54:07,510 we got from the spacecraft to doing very similar techniques 1291 00:54:07,510 --> 00:54:09,512 on Earth, because that enables us 1292 00:54:09,512 --> 00:54:11,181 to see how correct we were 1293 00:54:11,181 --> 00:54:13,283 in our predictions, which will help us 1294 00:54:13,283 --> 00:54:15,919 look to other asteroids as well. 1295 00:54:15,919 --> 00:54:18,622 So we're really studying us from every angle. 1296 00:54:18,622 --> 00:54:21,524 Now, are your teams talking with each other? 1297 00:54:21,524 --> 00:54:22,626 And, you know, like, 1298 00:54:22,626 --> 00:54:24,094 how does this all this information, 1299 00:54:24,094 --> 00:54:26,529 I guess, come together for the bigger picture? 1300 00:54:26,529 --> 00:54:26,863 Yeah. 1301 00:54:26,863 --> 00:54:29,966 So I mean, communication's obviously important. 1302 00:54:29,966 --> 00:54:31,868 You know, we all work in isolation. 1303 00:54:31,868 --> 00:54:34,604 I mean, we went to lab, but no, we actually have the structure. 1304 00:54:34,604 --> 00:54:36,039 We have these working group leads. 1305 00:54:36,039 --> 00:54:38,675 So for each of these groups that Sarah was talking about, 1306 00:54:38,675 --> 00:54:40,343 we have a lead and we have a deputy. 1307 00:54:40,343 --> 00:54:42,379 And actually the leads get together 1308 00:54:42,379 --> 00:54:44,314 and talk about, you know, what we're finding. 1309 00:54:44,314 --> 00:54:45,448 We have science team meetings. 1310 00:54:45,448 --> 00:54:48,618 There's one, coming up, in Tucson, 1311 00:54:48,618 --> 00:54:51,621 next month and or an end of March. 1312 00:54:51,788 --> 00:54:53,323 And that'll be another opportunity 1313 00:54:53,323 --> 00:54:56,159 to discuss the results. Where do we go from here? 1314 00:54:56,159 --> 00:54:58,561 So that's actually a really important part of this, right? 1315 00:54:58,561 --> 00:55:01,564 We need to be communicating, sharing our results, 1316 00:55:01,665 --> 00:55:03,800 so we can plan the next steps. 1317 00:55:03,800 --> 00:55:04,901 Yeah. 1318 00:55:04,901 --> 00:55:08,271 So my next question is angel lady on Twitch who asks, 1319 00:55:08,538 --> 00:55:12,108 are there any specific planets or moons within our solar system 1320 00:55:12,309 --> 00:55:15,078 that you believe could harbor life based on 1321 00:55:15,078 --> 00:55:18,081 the ingredients found in the asteroid samples? 1322 00:55:18,315 --> 00:55:19,649 So yeah, absolutely. 1323 00:55:19,649 --> 00:55:21,584 I think the astrobiologist should answer that. 1324 00:55:21,584 --> 00:55:23,520 Well, we've we've talked about them already. 1325 00:55:23,520 --> 00:55:23,920 Right. 1326 00:55:23,920 --> 00:55:27,891 Europa, huge ocean, icy moons of Jupiter 1327 00:55:28,158 --> 00:55:32,028 and Enceladus, another icy moon of Saturn. 1328 00:55:32,529 --> 00:55:36,032 And in that case, you know, it's it's actually spitting out 1329 00:55:36,299 --> 00:55:39,069 some of this ocean material as a plume. 1330 00:55:39,069 --> 00:55:40,103 Pretty exciting. 1331 00:55:40,103 --> 00:55:42,205 And is it just the water on those? 1332 00:55:42,205 --> 00:55:42,839 Yeah, there's 1333 00:55:42,839 --> 00:55:45,875 there's a nice image of these these these plumes coming out. 1334 00:55:45,875 --> 00:55:46,443 So this is. 1335 00:55:46,443 --> 00:55:47,410 Yeah, probably 1336 00:55:47,410 --> 00:55:50,113 this stuff's derived from the subsurface ocean so. 1337 00:55:50,113 --> 00:55:52,515 Want to sample that. Want to analyze that. 1338 00:55:52,515 --> 00:55:55,919 What I you know it'd be an amazing discovery 1339 00:55:55,919 --> 00:55:57,754 if I in life but I wouldn't be shocked. 1340 00:55:57,754 --> 00:56:00,757 I mean this is exactly the kind of environment where, 1341 00:56:00,757 --> 00:56:03,593 where you should, you know, life could evolve. 1342 00:56:03,593 --> 00:56:04,828 And that's so exciting too. 1343 00:56:04,828 --> 00:56:07,197 I mean, as you mentioned, we've got Europa Clipper on its 1344 00:56:07,197 --> 00:56:08,298 way right now. Yep. 1345 00:56:08,298 --> 00:56:12,068 To look at the habitability of, of of that icy moon. 1346 00:56:12,068 --> 00:56:13,703 And so, you know more to come. 1347 00:56:13,703 --> 00:56:15,004 Yeah, absolutely. 1348 00:56:15,004 --> 00:56:17,507 I have one final question for you both. 1349 00:56:17,507 --> 00:56:19,976 And that is what advice do you have to viewers 1350 00:56:19,976 --> 00:56:21,745 who might be interested in, you know, 1351 00:56:21,745 --> 00:56:24,247 helping NASA study other worlds like Bennu? 1352 00:56:26,116 --> 00:56:29,185 So my advice to everyone is always to follow your heart. 1353 00:56:29,185 --> 00:56:30,754 And when you're thinking about your career 1354 00:56:30,754 --> 00:56:33,123 and your career choices, it's so important 1355 00:56:33,123 --> 00:56:35,191 to do something that you're truly passionate about. 1356 00:56:35,191 --> 00:56:38,027 Like Katina and I are passionate about what we what we do. 1357 00:56:38,027 --> 00:56:42,565 So absolutely just go for what you really enjoy. 1358 00:56:42,732 --> 00:56:44,100 Yeah. 1359 00:56:44,100 --> 00:56:46,870 But yeah, do make sure you take maths classes like this. 1360 00:56:46,870 --> 00:56:51,674 So that's useful for everyone in math, science in general. 1361 00:56:51,674 --> 00:56:52,142 I guess 1362 00:56:52,142 --> 00:56:54,811 one of the big learning moments for me, you know, and I, 1363 00:56:54,811 --> 00:56:56,146 I went from physics 1364 00:56:56,146 --> 00:56:56,913 to chemistry, 1365 00:56:56,913 --> 00:56:58,681 which are very different, you know, 1366 00:56:58,681 --> 00:57:01,684 and that was because of that Allen Hills Martian meteorite. 1367 00:57:01,785 --> 00:57:05,388 But I think, have, you know, science background is important. 1368 00:57:05,755 --> 00:57:08,024 Obviously, if you want to study pieces of Bennu, 1369 00:57:08,024 --> 00:57:11,261 you should like rocks, you know, space rocks. 1370 00:57:12,128 --> 00:57:15,198 But, yeah, again, follow your heart, you know, work hard. 1371 00:57:15,198 --> 00:57:16,699 You know, there are many different ways 1372 00:57:16,699 --> 00:57:19,169 to get to where where we are now. 1373 00:57:19,169 --> 00:57:21,538 And again, I wouldn't even never guess. Yeah. 1374 00:57:21,538 --> 00:57:23,873 No doubt. So, Yeah. So. 1375 00:57:23,873 --> 00:57:25,341 Yeah. Here we are. Yeah. 1376 00:57:26,309 --> 00:57:27,811 Well, that's great advice. 1377 00:57:27,811 --> 00:57:30,914 And like, thank you so much for being here on this show. 1378 00:57:30,914 --> 00:57:32,982 And also congratulations on your discovery. 1379 00:57:32,982 --> 00:57:36,619 I know that it has been like decades in the working right. 1380 00:57:36,619 --> 00:57:39,622 And you have something so cool to show for. 1381 00:57:39,656 --> 00:57:41,458 So again thank you both for your time. 1382 00:57:41,458 --> 00:57:43,159 You're welcome. Thank you. 1383 00:57:43,159 --> 00:57:46,162 And thank you all to our viewers online watching today. 1384 00:57:46,396 --> 00:57:49,432 Now, if you didn't get enough, we have another opportunity 1385 00:57:49,432 --> 00:57:51,000 for you to speak directly 1386 00:57:51,000 --> 00:57:53,703 with the scientists involved in the sample return 1387 00:57:53,703 --> 00:57:57,440 that's happening tomorrow, January 31st, from 2 to 4 p.m. 1388 00:57:57,440 --> 00:57:58,775 Eastern on Reddit. 1389 00:57:58,775 --> 00:58:02,645 We'll have another Q&A and you can visit reddit.com again. 1390 00:58:02,679 --> 00:58:07,116 Argon NASA now to stay updated on Bennu science. 1391 00:58:07,116 --> 00:58:08,184 You can follow NASA's 1392 00:58:08,184 --> 00:58:11,354 Solar System on Instagram, Facebook, and X. 1393 00:58:11,621 --> 00:58:14,757 This is going to be this is one of the first studies 1394 00:58:14,757 --> 00:58:16,025 of the asteroid material. 1395 00:58:16,025 --> 00:58:17,594 And as we talked about earlier, 1396 00:58:17,594 --> 00:58:20,330 there are going to be dozens of investigations 1397 00:58:20,330 --> 00:58:23,867 going on all around the world and will continue for decades. 1398 00:58:24,367 --> 00:58:25,368 So be on the lookout 1399 00:58:25,368 --> 00:58:28,538 for more discoveries as the story continues to unfold. 1400 00:58:29,138 --> 00:58:31,407 You can read all about the exciting findings 1401 00:58:31,407 --> 00:58:35,645 from the asteroid sample on nasa.gov slash OSIRIS-REx. 1402 00:58:36,112 --> 00:58:37,947 Thank you and see you next time.