Daniel Glavin

On September 24 this year, a NASA capsule parachuted down to Earth carrying a precious cache of material grabbed from an asteroid. The space agency has now revealed images and a preliminary analysis of the space rocks it found after lifting the lid off that capsule.

NASA scientists revealed the sample collected by the OSIRIS-REx mission from near-Earth asteroid Bennu for the first time Wednesday.

NASA said during a live stream Wednesday that Bennu asteroid samples collected by the OSIRIS-Rex mission contain water, carbon and organic molecules - the building blocks of life.

The first analyses of samples brought back from the asteroid Ryugu show that this space rock contains some of the molecules needed for life.

All five key building blocks of DNA and RNA have been found in meteorites that fell to Earth within the last 100 years, according to research released Tuesday by scientists at NASA and Hokkaidu University in Japan.

NASA's rover discovered the compounds in an ancient Martian lakebed.

The contents inside are invaluable.

NASA scientists revealed the sample collected by the OSIRIS-REx mission from near-Earth asteroid Bennu for the first time Wednesday.

David W. Brown writes about the OSIRIS-REx mission to collect material from an asteroid that could help us learn more about the origins of life on Earth.

Scientists have detected adenine and guanine in meteorites for decades and seen hints of uracil. But cytosine and thymine had remained elusive.

NASA's Curiosity Rover has discovered long carbon chains on Mars. On Earth, molecules like these are overwhelmingly produced by biological processes.

NASA's findings provide the strongest evidence yet that asteroids may have planted the seeds of life on Earth and that these ingredients were mingling with water almost right from the start.

NASA held a briefing to reveal the rocks returned by the OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission. The asteroid material was delivered to Earth in late September in a space capsule that landed in Utah.

NASA's Perseverance rover has collected valuable samples, but a new report says the plan to fetch them is unworkable

Asteroid Ryugu has a rich complement of organic molecules, according to a NASA and international team's initial analysis of a sample from the asteroid's surface delivered to Earth by Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft. The discovery adds support to the idea that organic material from space contributed to the inventory of chemical components necessary for life.

NASA's Curiosity Rover has discovered long carbon chains on Mars. On Earth, molecules like these are overwhelmingly produced by biological processes.

NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered the most complex organic molecules ever seen on Mars, the remains of fatty acids up to an incredible 12 carbon atoms long. The post Surprisingly big organic molecules on Mars: A hint of life? first appeared on EarthSky.

Material retrieved from the asteroid Bennu by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft shows that all the basic building blocks of life were astonishingly widespread in the early solar system

Scientists studying samples that NASA collected from the asteroid Bennu found a wide assortment of organic molecules that shed light on how life arose.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Asteroid samples fetched by NASA hold not only the pristine building blocks for life but also the salty remains of an ancient water world, scientists reported Wednesday. The findings provide the strongest evidence yet that asteroids may have planted the seeds of life on Earth and