NASA has a good problem.

The space agency revealed the first scientific insights from the black asteroid pieces it collected from ancient asteroid Bennu, revealing evidence of two essential ingredients for life as we know it: carbon and water. The investigation of the asteroid contents, which plummeted down to Earth on Sept. 24, is happening in a specialized clean room at the Johnson Space Center, where the agency also stores its prized moon rocks.

Scientists haven’t even yet opened the actual canister that contains the bulk of what the sample collection spacecraft, called OSIRIS-REx, plucked from the 4.5 billion-year-old space rock. That’s because NASA discovered they have much more asteroid to scrutinize than expected: These initial asteroid fragments were trapped outside the main collection compartment when the spacecraft slammed its cover shut after quickly diving down to fetch samples. Researchers are now carefully scouring the first intriguing grains before looking deeper inside at their greater space bounty.

Ultimately, planetary scientists hope all these pieces from asteroid Bennu — a time capsule preserving our primordial solar system — can reveal how these primitive ingredients gave rise to Earth, and the thriving life therein.

“We’re trying to find out who we are, what we are, and where we came from,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said during the Oct. 11 reveal.