U of R professor part of NASA team that discovered building blocks of life on asteroid
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Discoveries from an asteroid that contain the building blocks of life are making waves in the scientific community, and one of the key scientists involved is right here at the University of Rochester.
News10NBC’s Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean chatted with the scientist about the groundbreaking research. Twenty years ago, Kevin Righter, a UR professor and part of the NASA OSIRIS-REx team, was involved in a mission that sent a spacecraft to an asteroid to collect samples.
“It wasn’t technically a landing. It was what we call touch and go,” Righter explained.
The spacecraft touched the asteroid, which was traveling at 63,000 miles per hour, for about five seconds to collect a sample.
The asteroid’s contents are now secured in a clean room in Houston. Righter, who helped design this facility, is studying the findings.
“Detailed studies of the organic compound are just starting, and we’re already seeing these surprises that I think are going to make us revise theories about the origin of life on Earth,” Righter said.
NASA and two new publications reveal that the asteroid’s contents contain elements essential for life on Earth. While life itself wasn’t found, NASA states that “conditions necessary for the emergence of life were widespread across the early solar system, increasing the odds life could have formed on other planets and moons.”
Righter emphasized the importance of understanding Earth’s origins, saying, “Earth is a dynamic place. We need to understand some basic information about how it came to be, and that will help us understand a path into the future.”
Kevin Righter joined the University of Rochester last summer. The discoveries were published in Nature and Nature Astronomy.
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