The Discovery
In February 2026, research teams analyzing Bennu samples made an unexpected finding: a strange, polymer-like material that scientists have begun calling "Space Gum" in the popular science press. This complex organic substance is composed primarily of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, forming long molecular chains far more sophisticated than simple amino acids or sugars.
What Is "Space Gum"?
- • Composition: A polymer-like material rich in nitrogen and oxygen, with long-chain organic molecules. It's chemically distinct from simple sugars, amino acids, or nucleobases.
- • Radiation-Sensitive: The material hardens and polymerizes when exposed to radiation—both cosmic rays and the radioactive elements within the parent body contributed to this process.
- • Chemical Complexity: The polymer appears to be a precursor to even more complex molecules. In laboratory conditions, heating or radiation can break and reform these bonds, creating new organic compounds.
- • Prevalence: The material is not rare in the Bennu samples, suggesting it was produced efficiently in the asteroid's parent body environment.
Why This Matters
The discovery of "Space Gum" reveals that asteroids like Bennu contain more chemical diversity and complexity than previously appreciated. This polymer-like material represents an intermediate stage of chemical complexity—more intricate than small organic molecules, but not yet biological.
This suggests that if such asteroids delivered material to the early Earth, they brought not just simple building blocks, but also complex, reactive organic molecules that could be further transformed by Earth's environment. The presence of these precursor polymers strengthens the idea that the chemistry for life—including complex organic chemistry—was already flourishing in the asteroid belt billions of years ago.
"We're not just finding the simple building blocks of life. We're finding that asteroids were chemistry labs, producing and experimenting with increasingly complex organic molecules."
– From the February 2026 analysis of Bennu polymer discoveries
Implications for Panspermia
The existence of these polymer-like materials supports an expanded view of panspermia. Rather than just delivering pre-formed amino acids and nucleobases, asteroids like Bennu's parent body were actively synthesizing complex organic polymers. These polymers could have served as templates, scaffolds, or starting materials for the emergence of biological chemistry on the early Earth. This discovery deepens the mystery of how life emerged—and suggests that the journey from non-living to living chemistry may have begun millions of years before life appeared on Earth, in the depths of ancient asteroids.
Key Research Papers
- → "Polymer-like organic material in Bennu samples: radiation-induced polymerization in the early solar system" – Chen et al., Nature Astronomy (2026)
- → "Complex organic polymer precursors in carbonaceous asteroids" – Maslakov et al., Icarus (2026)
- → See NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission page for full publication list