Rock and dust samples retrieved by NASA from the asteroid Bennu exhibit some of the chemical building blocks of life, according to research that provides some of the best evidence to date that such space rocks may have seeded early Earth with the raw ingredients that fostered the emergence of living organisms.

CNN reports how new research from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center published to “Nature” has revealed that samples from the near-Earth asteroid, Bennu, contains organic compounds and minerals necessary for life to form. Among them are amino acids and components found in DNA.