NASA Reveals The Origin Of Lunar Amino Acids Collected In Apollo Missions

Space





Photo credit:

Astronaut Alan L. Bean Samples The Ocean of Storms by NASA via Flickr. CC-BY 2.0

When the Apollo missions brought back lunar samples, scientists were surprised to find traces of organic matter in the form of amino acids. The origin of these molecules was shrouded in mystery, and no explanation had enough evidence to back it up. Over 40 years later, a team of NASA-funded scientists has identified that most of those amino acids were due to contamination from Earth.