Noble gases and nitrogen in material from asteroid BennuOPEN ACCESS 

B. Marty, L. Zimmermann, E. Füri, D. V. Bekaert, J. J. Barnes, A. N. Nguyen, H. C. Connolly, D. S. Lauretta

MAPS, Version of Record online: 02 October 2025

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“We report the elemental and isotopic abundances of all stable noble gases (helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon) in eight particles from asteroid Bennu returned by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. We also report nitrogen abundances and isotopic ratios that were analyzed alongside neon and argon in four additional Bennu particles. These analyses confirm the similarities of Bennu material with Ivuna-type carbonaceous (CI) chondrites. The nitrogen isotopic compositions show intra- and inter-particle variations, pointing to the heterogeneous distribution of various N-bearing phases, while the abundances of nitrogen are within the range of those measured in CIs. Noble gas data indicate mixing between Q-like noble gases (a ubiquitous noble gas component found in most classes of primitive meteorites, presumably formed by noble gas incorporation into organic materials within the ionized regions of the parent cloud or in the protoplanetary disk) and various presolar components originally hosted by refractory grains that survived the high enthalpy birth of the solar system. The noble gases also include secondary contributions of three types: (i) noble gas isotopes produced by radioactivity, (ii) solar wind implantation, mostly identified in the light noble gas (He and Ne) isotopic compositions, and (iii) cosmogenic noble gases produced by interaction with high-energy cosmic rays, permitting us to estimate how long fresh surfaces were irradiated. We find that cosmic ray exposure (CRE) durations of Bennu material vary mostly between 1 and 3 Ma. These CRE ages are consistent with (i) radionuclide studies suggesting surface exposure for 2–7 Ma, (ii) small crater retention ages of 1.6–2.2 Ma, and (iii) the 1.75 ± 0.75 million years that Bennu is estimated to have been dynamically decoupled from the asteroid belt. In contrast to CRE ages, we find a maximum duration of solar wind irradiation of ≤100,000 a, in agreement with exposure duration of <85,000 a from solar energetic particle tracks and microcrater densities. The noble gas abundances in Bennu and Ryugu samples are higher by a factor ≥2 compared to CI meteorites, whereas their isotopic compositions are similar. This difference between material sampled directly from asteroids and their meteoritic equivalent suggests degradation of the latter through contact with the terrestrial environment. Neon–argon variations point to a potential genetic relationship between Bennu, Ryugu, CI materials on the one hand, and the terrestrial atmosphere on the other.”