The Osiris Rex Mission to Bennu. Can Carbon From an Asteroid Tell Us Where We Came From?

<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; font-variation-settings: var(--global-fontVariationSettings-fontWidth-regular), var(--global-fontVariationSettings-fontWeight-regular); color: #000000; font-family: 'ABC Oracle Plus Variable', -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-line; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Why does science explore the universe? If the universe has no ultimate purpose, why study it? But how can science know that the universe has no ultimate purpose? Can carbon from an asteroid really tell us where we came from and what our place in the universe really is?  </p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; font-variation-settings: var(--global-fontVariationSettings-fontWidth-regular), var(--global-fontVariationSettings-fontWeight-regular); color: #000000; font-family: 'ABC Oracle Plus Variable', -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-line; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Recently, some 250 grams of carbon and other minerals gathered from Bennu, a near-earth asteroid, landed safely in a Utah desert. What can these elements really tell us about who we are and where we came from? Is debris from an asteroid really the place to look for answers to these questions?  </p> <p style="