NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission now knows much more about the material it will be collecting in just a few weeks.

Goddard’s Amy Simon found that carbon-bearing, organic material is widespread on the asteroid’s surface, including at the mission’s primary sample site, Nightingale, where OSIRIS-REx will make its first sample collection attempt on Oct.20.

These and other findings indicate that hydrated minerals and organic material will likely be present in the collected sample.