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Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Science

NASA unveils sample scooped from surface of near-Earth asteroid Bennu

This NASA file image shows an artist's rendering of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descending towards asteroid Bennu to collect a sample of the asteroid's surface [File: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University/AFP]

A sample of material collected from the surface of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu has been found to contain abundant water and carbon, the US space agency NASA said, offering more evidence for a theory that life on Earth was seeded from outer space.

The findings were announced on Wednesday as NASA gave the public a first glimpse of what scientists found inside a sealed capsule that was returned to Earth last month after carrying material scooped from the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid’s surface by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.

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