In a quiet room of a museum in Washington, cameras and cell phones focus on a small piece of rock, no bigger than a piece of gravel.
The fragment may seem insignificant, but it is a sample taken from the asteroid Bennu, which scientists are studying in the hopes of finding out whether the asteroid actually brought the building blocks of life – carbon and water – to Earth.
Displayed to the public for the first time on Friday at the Smithsonian in the US capital, the tiny stone is visible inside its tiny capsule.
“We now know that this asteroid has water crystals and carbon, the two elements that ultimately create life,” NASA chief Bill Nelson said minutes before the curtain rose on the dedication ceremony.
The new space venture is “part of our quest to try to understand, understand who we are, what we are, where we are in the vastness of this universe,” Nelson told reporters and space enthusiasts eager to show off their cameras. Were. To draw an image of a piece of rock.