What does space taste like?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is back! With flavor! What flavor?
Rock samples from Bennu, a billions of years old asteroid. And the taste is… familiar!
Salt minerals! Similar to what’s left behind when water evaporates on Earth.
These minerals suggest that Bennu’s parent asteroid once had liquid water that later dried up. A major discovery suggesting that water might exist somewhere in deep space!
This is a BIG deal for… obvious, potentially life-supporting reasons. Bennu – and other similar asteroids in space – may have carried the same ingredients that helped kickstart life on Earth.
Salt, stardust, and a dash of life? Try our new flaming extraterrestrial cheetos!
Reference: McCoy, T. J., et al, (2025). An evaporite sequence from ancient brine recorded in Bennu samples. Nature, 637(8048), 1072–1077. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08495-6