Curtin University researchers have gained an unprecedented glimpse into the early history of our solar system through some of the most well-preserved asteroid samples ever collected, potentially transforming our understanding of planetary formation and the origins of life.
Experts from Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences were selected to be among the first in the world to inspect samples collected during NASA’s seven-year, OSIRIS-REx mission to the ancient asteroid Bennu.
Asteroid Bennu is thought to be made of rubble fragments from a 4.5-billion-year-old parent body, containing materials that originated beyond Saturn, which was destroyed long ago in a collision with another object.
The OSIRIS-REx sample analysis team identified a variety of salts, including sodium carbonates, phosphates, sulfates, and chlorides.
Associate Professor Nick Timms, an author of the Nature article, said the discovery of these salts was a breakthrough in space research.
“We were surprised to identify the mineral halite, which is sodium chloride—exactly the same salt that you might put on your chips,” Associate Professor Timms said. “The minerals we found form from evaporation of brines—a bit like salt deposits forming in the salt lakes that we have in Australia and around the world.
“By comparing with mineral sequences from salt lakes on Earth, we can start to envisage what it was like on the parent body of asteroid Bennu, providing insight into ancient cosmic water activity.”
Evaporite minerals and brines are known to help organic molecules develop on Earth.
“A briny, carbon-rich environment on Bennu’s parent body was probably suitable for assembling the building blocks of life,” Associate Professor Timms said.
Na-rich evaporite phases. © Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08495-6
The key to the new discovery was the pristine condition of the samples.
Many of the salts present degrade quickly when exposed to the atmosphere. However, the samples collected on the OSIRIS-REx mission were sealed and purged with nitrogen once on Earth to prevent contamination.
NASA chose Curtin to perform early analysis on the samples—the largest ever