What made us might have made aliens too and here’s why

For a long time, scientists have wondered how life began on Earth. One big question is whether the building blocks of life were created here or if they came from space.

NASA’s new asteroid samples provide strong evidence that some of these ingredients may have arrived from space billions of years ago.

NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft travelled to an asteroid called Bennu, collected samples, and brought them back to Earth in 2023.

Scientists have now studied these samples and found some key clues. In the 122 grams of dust and pebbles it collected were amino acids, nitrogen as well as salty minerals, all of which are essential to life.

NASA scientist Daniel Glavin noted that one of the most unexpected findings was the large amount of nitrogen, including ammonia, in the asteroid samples.

Bennu, a small asteroid about half a kilometre wide, was once part of a much larger asteroid that broke apart after collisions with other space rocks.

Scientists now believe that this original asteroid contained a vast system of underground lakes or even oceans. Over time, the water evaporated, leaving behind salty mineral traces that provide important clues about its watery past.

Why the findings might hint at alien life

While similar organic molecules have been detected in meteorites before, Glavin said that those from Bennu are extraterrestrial, they formed in space rather than being contaminated by Earth’s environment.

This means that if these materials were already floating around space billions of years ago, they could have landed on young Earth and helped life begin.

This backs the idea that if these life-building materials exist in space, alien life could have formed elsewhere in the universe, having emerged from similar conditions.

Although this discovery has become an exciting push for the search for extraterrestrial life, scientists are still looking for more evidence.

There is growing interest in sending a mission to gather rocks and soil from Ceres, a dwarf planet in the main asteroid belt that may have once held water.

Meanwhile, Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus, both believed to contain subsurface oceans, remain top priorities for future exploration.

NASA has also collected core samples from Mars, but their return to Earth is currently on hold as the agency explores the fastest and most cost-effective way to retrieve them.

“Are we alone?” asked the Smithsonian Institution’s Tim McCoy, one of the lead study authors.

“That’s one of the questions we’re trying to answer.”