A new study shows that minerals inside asteroid Bennu are organised into three clearly different chemical groupings. These patterns provide important clues about how liquid water once altered the asteroid.

As the samples haven’t been exposed to Earth’s atmosphere, they offer a rare, untouched record of how water, minerals, and organic compounds interacted in the early Solar System. The team examined a sample known as OREX-800066-3, collected during NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission and delivered to Earth in September 2023.