Do asteroids hold the key to life on Earth?

Two spacecraft are currently in the process of collecting samples from asteroids and returning them to Earth. And in the next few years, crewless missions will visit other near-Earth asteroids as well as those further afield in the main asteroid belt and Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. Asteroids have the potential to answer one of the biggest questions in science: how did life on Earth begin? Asteroids can also help scientists better understand planet formation. Planetary defence is another reason behind the increased interest in asteroids.