Artist's depiction of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. JAXA.
Researchers have detected organic molecules in asteroid samples taken by Japan’s Hayabusa2 space mission.
The discoveries add to growing evidence that the building blocks of life on Earth originated in space.
- The
Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) collected one of the
samples used in its research from the surface of the near-Earth asteroid
Ryugu.
- The other sample was taken from a 33-foot-wide impact crater created in 2019 when the space agency launched a projectile into the asteroid.
- The Hayabusa2 spacecraft transported the samples to Earth when it flew past the planet in 2020.
- The
asteroid samples contained uracil, one of the building blocks of RNA,
and vitamin B3, which is crucial for metabolic processes in living
organisms.
- They also contained other biological molecules,
including amino acids, amines, and carboxylic acids, according to
Yasuhiro Oba, a lead author of the study detailing the findings.
- The study can be found here.
- The findings support the theory of panspermia, which proposes that the seeds of life traveled to Earth via comets and meteorites.
