Sugars, ‘Gum,’ Stardust Found in NASA’s Asteroid Bennu Samples

The asteroid Bennu continues to provide new clues to scientists’ biggest questions about the formation of the early solar system and the origins of life. As part of the ongoing study of pristine samples delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer) spacecraft, three new papers published Tuesday by the journals Nature Geosciences and Nature Astronomy present remarkable discoveries: sugars essential for biology, a gum-like substance not seen before in astromaterials, and an unexpectedly high abundance of dust produced by supernova explosions.

Sugars essential to life

Scientists led by Yoshihiro Furukawa of Tohoku University in Japan found sugars essential for biology on Earth in the Bennu samples, detailing their findings in the journal Nature Geoscience. The five-carbon sugar ribose and, for the first time in an extraterrestrial sample, six-carbon glucose were found. Although these sugars are not evidence of life, their detection, along with previous detections of amino acids, nucleobases, and carboxylic acids in Bennu samples, show building blocks of biological molecules were widespread throughout the solar system.

For life on Earth, the sugars deoxyribose and ribose are key building blocks of DNA and RNA, respectively. DNA is the primary carrier of genetic information in cells. RNA performs numerous functions, and life as we know it could not exist without it. Ribose in RNA is used in the molecule’s sugar-phosphate “backbone” that connects a string of information-carrying nucleobases.

“All five nucleobases used to construct both DNA and RNA, along with phosphates, have already been found in the Bennu samples brought to Earth by OSIRIS-REx,” said Furukawa. “The new discovery of ribose means that all of the components to form the molecule RNA are present in Bennu.”

The discovery of ribose in asteroid samples is not a complete surprise. Ribose has previously been found in two meteorites recovered on Earth. What is important about the Bennu samples is that researchers did not find deoxyribose. If Bennu is any indication, this means ribose may have been more common than deoxyribose in environments of the early solar system. 

Researchers think the presence of ribose and lack of deoxyribose supports the “RNA world” hypothesis, where the first forms of life relied on RNA as the primary molecule to store information and to drive chemical reactions necessary for survival. 

“Present day life is based on a complex system organized primarily by three types of functional biopolymers: DNA, RNA, and proteins,” explains Furukawa. “However, early life may have been simpler. RNA is the leading candidate for the first functional biopolymer because it can store genetic information and catalyze many biological reactions.”

The Bennu samples also contained one of the most common forms of “food” (or energy) used by life on Earth, the sugar glucose, which is the first evidence that an important energy source for life as we know it was also present in the early solar system.

Mysterious, ancient ‘gum’

A second paper, in the journal Nature Astronomy led by Scott Sandford at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and Zack Gainsforth of the University of California, Berkeley, reveals a gum-like material in the Bennu samples never seen before in space rocks – something that could have helped set the stage on Earth for the ingredients of life to emerge. The surprising substance was likely formed in the early days of the solar system, as Bennu’s young parent asteroid warmed.

Once soft and flexible, but since hardened, this ancient “space gum” consists of polymer-like materials extremely rich in nitrogen and oxygen. Such complex molecules could have provided some of the chemical precursors that helped trigger life on Earth, and finding them in the pristine samples from Bennu is important for scientists studying how life began and whether it exists beyond our planet.

On this primitive asteroid that formed in the early days of the solar system, we’re looking at events near the beginning of the beginning.

Scott SandFord

Astrophysicist, NASA’s Ames Research Center

Bennu’s ancestral asteroid formed from materials in the solar nebula – the rotating cloud of gas and dust that gave rise to the solar system – and contained a variety of minerals and ices. As the asteroid began to warm, due to natural radiation, a compound called carbamate formed through a process involving ammonia and carbon dioxide. Carbamate is water soluble, but it survived long enough to polymerize, reacting with itself and other molecules to form larger and more complex chains impervious to water. This suggests that it formed before the parent body warmed enough to become a watery environment.

“With this strange substance, we’re looking at, quite possibly, one of the earliest alterations of materials that occurred in this rock,” said Sandford. “On this primitive asteroid that formed in the early days of the solar system, we’re looking at events near the beginning of the beginning.”

Using an infrared microscope, Sandford’s team selected unusual, carbon-rich grains containing abundant nitrogen and oxygen. They then began what Sandford calls “blacksmithing at the molecular level,” using the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) in Berkeley, California. Applying ultra-thin layers of platinum, they reinforced a particle, welded on a tungsten needle to lift the tiny grain, and shaved the fragment down using a focused beam of charged particles.

When the particle was a thousand times thinner than a human hair, they analyzed its composition via electron microscopy at the Molecular Foundry and X-ray spectroscopy at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source. The ALS’s high spatial resolution and sensitive X-ray beams enabled unprecedented chemical analysis.

“We knew we had something remarkable the instant the images started to appear on the monitor,” said Gainsforth. “It was like nothing we had ever seen, and for months we were consumed by data and theories as we attempted to understand just what it was and how it could have come into existence.” 

The team conducted a slew of experiments to examine the material’s characteristics. As the details emerged, the evidence suggested the strange substance had been deposited in layers on grains of ice and minerals present in the asteroid.

It was also flexible – a pliable material, similar to used gum or even a soft plastic. Indeed, during their work with the samples, researchers noticed the strange material was bendy and dimpled when pressure was applied. The stuff was translucent, and exposure to radiation made it brittle, like a lawn chair left too many seasons in the sun.

“Looking at its chemical makeup, we see the same kinds of chemical groups that occur in polyurethane on Earth,” said Sandford, “making this material from Bennu something akin to a ‘space plastic.’” 

The ancient asteroid stuff isn’t simply polyurethane, though, which is an orderly polymer. This one has more “random, hodgepodge connections and a composition of elements that differs from particle to particle,” said Sandford. But the comparison underscores the surprising nature of the organic material discovered in NASA’s asteroid samples, and the research team aims to study more of it.

By pursuing clues about what went on long ago, deep inside an asteroid, scientists can better understand the young solar system – revealing the precursors to and ingredients of life it already contained, and how far those raw materials may have been scattered, thanks to asteroids much like Bennu.

Abundant supernova dust

Another paper in the journal Nature Astronomy, led by Ann Nguyen of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, analyzed presolar grains – dust from stars predating our solar system – found in two different rock types in the Bennu samples to learn more about where its parent body formed and how it was altered by geologic processes. It is believed that presolar dust was generally well-mixed as our solar system formed. The samples had six-times the amount of supernova dust than any other studied astromaterial, suggesting the asteroid’s parent body formed in a region of the protoplanetary disk enriched in the dust of dying stars.  

The study also reveals that, while Bennu’s parent asteroid experienced extensive alteration by fluids, there are still pockets of less-altered materials within the samples that offer insights into its origin.

“These fragments retain a higher abundance of organic matter and presolar silicate grains, which are known to be easily destroyed by aqueous alteration in asteroids,” said Nguyen. “Their preservation in the Bennu samples was a surprise and illustrates that some material escaped alteration in the parent body. Our study reveals the diversity of presolar materials that the parent accreted as it was forming.”

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center provided overall mission management, systems engineering, and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson, is the principal investigator. The university leads the science team and the mission’s science observation planning and data processing. Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, built the spacecraft and provided flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace were responsible for navigating the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Curation for OSIRIS-REx takes place at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. International partnerships on this mission include the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter instrument from CSA (Canadian Space Agency) and asteroid sample science collaboration with JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s) Hayabusa2 mission. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program, managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information on the OSIRIS-REx mission, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex

Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
Headquarters, Washington
202-285-5155 / 240-419-1732
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov   / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov

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Abby Tabor

The International Space Station Marks 25 Years of Continuous Human Presence 

On Nov. 2, 2025, NASA honored 25 years of continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station. What began as a fragile framework of modules has evolved into a springboard for international cooperation, advanced scientific research and technology demonstrations, the development of a low Earth orbit economy, and NASA’s next great leaps in exploration, including crewed missions to the Moon and Mars. 

The first expedition

This legacy of achievement in global human endeavors began with the first crew’s arrival to the space station on Nov. 2, 2000. Expedition 1 crew members NASA astronaut William M. Shepherd and Russian Aviation and Space Agency, now Roscosmos, cosmonauts Yuri P. Gidzenko and Sergei K. Krikalev launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan two days prior. After a successful docking, the crew transferred aboard the station and began bringing it to life. Their primary tasks during their four-month mission included installing and activating the life support and communications systems and working with three visiting space shuttle crews to continue the station’s assembly. The trio returned to Earth in March 2001 aboard space shuttle Discovery, after having turned the station over to the Expedition 2 crew. 

(Space)walking into history 

Assembly and maintenance of the International Space Station would not be possible without the skilled work of crew members performing intricate tasks, in bulky spacesuits, in the harsh environment of space. In addition to station upkeep, spacewalks provide a platform for testing and improving spacesuits and tools – critical information for future exploration of the Moon and Mars. Other spacewalks have included operations for scientific research. In Jan. 2025, for example, crew members collected samples for an investigation examining whether microorganisms have exited through station vents and can survive in space, to better inform spacecraft design that helps prevent human contamination of Mars and other destinations. 

More than 270 spacewalks dedicated to the space station have been accomplished in the last quarter century. Several made station and human spaceflight history: 

• May 1999: NASA astronaut Tamara Jernigan became the first woman to complete a spacewalk at the space station, in support of its construction. 

• September 2000: Also during space station assembly, NASA astronaut Edward T. “Ed” Lu and Roscosmos cosmonaut Yuri I. Malenchenko conducted the first U.S.-Russian spacewalk. 

• March 10, 2001: NASA astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms set the record for longest spacewalk in U.S. history, at 8 hours and 56 minutes. 

• First spacewalks by international partners included: 

• April 2001 – Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield 

• July 2005 – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi 

• Aug. 2006 – European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter 

• Feb. 26, 2004: NASA astronaut Mike Foale and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Y. Kaleri complete the first spacewalk with no one inside the station.  

• Oct. 18, 2019: The first all-female spacewalk in history, conducted by NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir. 

Orbiting laboratory welcomes first commercial crew 

The International Space Station welcomed its first commercial crew members on May 31, 2020, when former NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley joined Expedition 63 Commander and NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner aboard the orbiting laboratory.  

Behnken and Hurley lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida the day before on NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 test flight – the first launch of American astronauts from U.S. soil since the space shuttle’s retirement in 2011.  

The duo quickly integrated with the rest of the crew and participated in a number of scientific experiments, spacewalks, and public engagement events during their 62 days aboard station. Overall, the pair spent 64 days in orbit, completed 1,024 orbits around Earth, and contributed more than 100 hours of time to supporting the orbiting laboratory’s investigations before splashing down on Aug. 2.  

Successful completion of the Demo-2 mission paved the way for regular SpaceX flights carrying astronauts to and from the space station. With another certified crew transportation system in place, the International Space Station Program added research time and increased the opportunity for discovery aboard humanity’s testbed for exploration, including preparations for human exploration of the Moon and Mars. 

Frank Rubio’s record-breaking year in space  

On Sept. 27, 2023, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio returned to Earth after spending 371 days aboard the International Space Station—the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut in history. His mission surpassed the previous record of 355 days, set by NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, and provided scientists with an unprecedented look at how the human body adapts to more than a year in microgravity. 

Rubio’s record-setting mission supported six human research studies, including investigations into diet, exercise, and overall physiology and psychology. He was the first astronaut to test whether limited workout equipment could still maintain health and fitness, an important consideration for future spacecraft with tighter living quarters. He also contributed biological samples, surveys, and tests for NASA’s Spaceflight Standard Measures, a study that collects health data from astronauts to better understand how the body adapts to space—knowledge that helps prepare crews for the Artemis campaign to the Moon and future trips to Mars. 

Alongside his fellow crew members, Rubio participated in dozens of investigations and technology demonstrations, from growing tomato plants with hydroponic and aeroponic techniques to materials science experiments that advance spacecraft design. 

Long-duration missions help inform future spaceflight and lay the groundwork for the next era of human exploration.  

A global foundation for growing a low Earth orbit economy 

The space station is one of the most ambitious international collaborations ever attempted. It brings together international flight crews, multiple launch vehicles, globally distributed launch and flight operations, training, engineering, and development facilities, communications networks, and the international scientific research community for the benefit of all humanity.  

An international partnership of space agencies operates the elements of the orbiting laboratory: NASA, Roscosmos, ESA (European Space Agency), JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). Each partner takes primary responsibility for managing and running the station hardware it provides, as well as on-Earth construction, launch support, mission operations, communications, and research and technology facilities that support the station. 

At least 290 individuals representing 26 countries, and the five international partners have visited the orbiting laboratory during its 25 years of continuous human presence. Some of those visitors flew to the station on private astronaut missions. These missions contribute to scientific, outreach, and commercial activities. They also help demonstrate the demand for future commercial space stations and are an important component of NASA’s strategy for enabling a robust and competitive commercial economy in low Earth orbit. 

The results of the international partnership created through the space station and its accomplishments exemplifies how countries can work together to overcome complex challenges and achieve collaborative goals. 

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What is AI? (Grades 5-8)

4 Min Read

What is AI? (Grades 5-8)

This article is for students grades 5-8.

What is AI?

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a type of technology that helps machines and computers have “thinking” abilities similar to humans. Devices using AI can learn words and concepts, recognize objects, see patterns, or make predictions. They can also be taught how to work autonomously. AI is often used to help people understand and solve problems more quickly than they could on their own.

AI includes:

• Machine learning: This type of AI looks at large amounts of data and learns how to make fast and accurate predictions based on that data. 
• Deep learning: This type helps computers operate much like the human brain. It uses several layers of “thought” to recognize patterns and learn new information. Deep learning is a type of machine learning. 
• Generative AI: A human can use generative AI to create text, videos, images, and more. It is based on deep learning.

How is NASA using AI?

NASA has found uses for AI in many of its missions and programs.

For missions to the Moon, AI can use satellite imagery to create detailed 3D maps of dark craters. This data could help scientists plan missions, spot hazards, and even identify where future crews might find water ice. On Mars, the Perseverance rover uses AI to drive itself autonomously. It takes pictures of the ground, sees obstacles, and chooses the safest path.

AI also helps NASA search for planets outside our solar system. For example, AI has helped citizen scientists find over 10,000 pairs of binary stars. These pairs orbit each other and block each other’s light. This information could help scientists search for new planets and learn more about how stars form.

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Words to Know

Autonomous: acting or operating independently, without external control. An autonomous technology can perform duties without human intervention.

Citizen scientist: a member of the public, often a volunteer, who collects data that can be used by scientists. When members of the public participate in research in this way, it’s called citizen science.

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NASA also uses AI to support its work on Earth.  The agency uses AI to aid disaster relief efforts during and after natural disasters like hurricanes or wildfires. For example, AI can count tarps on roofs in satellite images to measure damage after a storm. NASA is also supporting flight controllers and pilots by using AI to plan better flight routes, making air travel safer and more efficient. 

AI is helping NASA explore space, protect people, and make amazing discoveries!

Advice From NASA AI Experts

“AI is a great field for people who like solving problems, building things, or asking questions about how the world works. People use AI to help doctors understand diseases, to teach robots how to explore space,  and to help communities prepare for things like floods or wildfires. If you like using technology to help people and discover new things, AI could be a great career for you!” – Krista Kinnard, NASA’s Deputy Chief AI Officer

Career Corner

NASA roles that may involve AI include:  
Astronauts: Astronauts on the International Space Station can use an AI “digital assistant” to get medical recommendations. This is helpful when communication with Earth is interrupted. It could also be useful on future missions to distant destinations like Mars.
Engineers: Engineers can use AI to help them generate designs for things like new spacecraft.
Astronomers: AI helps astronomers analyze satellite and deep space telescope data to find stars and exoplanets.
Meteorologists: Weather experts can use machine learning to make climate projections.
Programmers: Programmers can use AI to update code used in older missions, bringing it up to modern standards.
IT professionals: AI can enable IT experts to understand outages across NASA, allowing them to get programs back up and running faster.
Program managers: Program managers can use AI to plan and model NASA missions.

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Sandra May

Sagittarius B2 Molecular Cloud

The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured glowing cosmic dust heated by very young massive stars in unprecedented detail in this image of the Sagittarius B2 (Sgr B2) molecular cloud released on Sept. 24, 2025.

Sgr B2 is the most massive, and active star-forming region in our galaxy, located only a few hundred light years from our central supermassive black hole. While Sgr B2 has only 10% of the galactic center’s gas, it produces 50% of its stars. Astronomers want to figure out why it is so much more active than the rest of the galactic center.

MIRI has both a camera and a spectrograph that sees light in the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. MIRI’s view reveals colorful stars punctuated occasionally by bright clouds of gas and dust. Further research into these stars will reveal details of their masses and ages, which will help astronomers better understand the process of star formation in this dense, active galactic center region.

Image credit: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Adam Ginsburg (University of Florida), Nazar Budaiev (University of Florida), Taehwa Yoo (University of Florida); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

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Monika Luabeya