A surprise in NASA's asteroid rocks hints Bennu came from an ocean world

Scientists analyzing samples NASA brought back from an asteroid got a surprise detection that may mean the space rock was once part of a long-gone ocean world. What the team found was water-soluble magnesium-sodium phosphate in mottled stones — a mineral no one expected because it didn't show up in any of the data the spacecraft collected when it was at the asteroid Bennu. Phosphate compounds are key for all known life, forming the backbone of DNA.The new study's findings, published i