What is 'space gum?' New analysis of Bennu asteroid yields surprising finds

Studying samples from the Bennu asteroid, researchers have found sugars essential for biology, stardust and ... something ...

NASA's asteroid sample just revealed new clues to life's origins

Elisha Sauers writes about space for Mashable, taking deep dives into NASA's moon and Mars missions, chatting up astronauts ...
abc13

Johnson Space Center begins study on asteroid sample that could reveal life origins on Earth

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Scientists at the Johnson Space Center in Houston now have their hands on the first asteroid sample ever obtained by the United States. The material could reveal unprecedented ...
CNN

A long-awaited asteroid sample has landed in the US

An asteroid sample collected by NASA has touched down on Earth, giving scientists the opportunity to learn more about the origins of the solar system and capturing a piece of a massive space rock that ...
Ars Technica

NASA wants a cheaper Mars Sample Return—Boeing proposes most expensive rocket

NASA is looking for ways to get rock samples back from Mars for less than the $11 billion the agency would need under its own plan, so last month, officials put out a call to industry to propose ideas ...
Space.com

NASA really wants a Mars sample return mission. Here's what's in store.

Plans are firming up to bring a sample of Mars back to Earth in 2031. A joint webinar last month by NASA and Lockheed Martin, which has participated in NASA sample return missions before, l went over ...
Space.com

Pieces of Heaven: A Brief History of Sample-Return Missions

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA is about to launch its first-ever asteroid-sampling spacecraft, but the mission won't be the first to bring pieces of another world back to Earth. The agency's OSIRIS-REx ...
Digital Trends

NASA wants to bring a sample of Mars back to Earth: Here’s the plan

In this illustration, NASA’s Mars 2020 rover uses its drill to core a rock sample on Mars. NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s rover Perseverance is due to land on Mars in February next year, where it will join ...
Smithsonian Magazine

NMNH in Review: How an Asteroid Sample Traveled From Outer Space to the Museum’s Mineral Hall

After a 500 million mile journey, a piece of the asteroid Bennu is now on display at the Smithsonian. But how did it get here? Ellyn Lapointe The Smithsonian is the first institution to display a ...
Ars Technica

NASA’s Mars Sample Return has a new price tag—and it’s colossal

During his final months as the chief of NASA’s science programs last year, there was one mission Thomas Zurbuchen fretted about more than any other—the agency’s ambitious plan to return rocks from ...
CNN

NASA successfully collected a sample from asteroid Bennu, but some of it is leaking into space

The historic collection of a sample from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on Tuesday was almost too successful. Some of the sample is leaking into space, according to ...