In a quiet museum room in Washington, cameras and cell phones are focused on a small rock fragment, no larger than a piece of gravel.
The fragment may appear insignificant, but it is a sample taken from the asteroid Bennu, which scientists are studying to determine if asteroids brought the essential building blocks of life, such as carbon and water, to Earth.
Displayed to the public for the first time at the Smithsonian in the US capital, the tiny stone is barely visible inside its small capsule.
“This asteroid, as we now know, contains water crystals and carbon, two elements that are crucial for the formation of life,” said NASA director Bill Nelson, moments before the dedication ceremony began.
This new space endeavor is ”part of our quest to understand, or at least attempt to understand, our place in the vastness of the cosmos,” Nelson told journalists and space enthusiasts eager to capture an image of the rock fragment with their cameras.
2023-11-06 03:41:03
Original from phys.org