Japanese scientists detected all five nucleobases — building blocks of DNA and RNA — in samples returned from asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission brought back 121.6 grams of asteroid Bennu,

The building blocks of DNA have been found in samples returned to Earth from an asteroid, suggesting life rained down from space and could have formed elsewhere.

Bennu contains minerals and thousands of organic molecules, including the chemical components that make up DNA.

New findings reveal that a NASA mission traveled to an asteroid that may have once been covered in salty lakes containing organic molecules.