After examining rare samples obtained during a six-year Japanese space mission, scientists speculated that water may have been transported to Earth by asteroids from the extreme reaches of the solar system.
Researchers are closely examining the debris returned to earth in 2020 from the asteroid Ryugu in an effort to give insight into the beginnings of life and the creation of the cosmos.
Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2, about the size of a refrigerator, was launched in December 2014 and landed 185 million miles distant on the diamond shaped asteroid Ryugu, which translates to “dragon palace” in Japanese. The capsule put on a spectacular display when it fell to Earth in 2020, racing across the sky as a brilliant fireball above the Australian outback.
The Japanese space probe that landed on the celestial planet and shot an “impactor” into its surface collected 5.4 grams (0.2 ounces) of pebbles and dust.
Studies on the material are starting to be published, and in June one team of researchers said that they had discovered organic material that suggested that some of the amino acids, the fundamental components of life on Earth, may have evolved in space.
According to a recent study that was published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the Ryugu samples may hold the key to solving the puzzle of how seas first arose on Earth billions of years ago.
According to the study, Ryugu particles are among the cleanest samples of the early Solar System that are now available for laboratory study. Further research into these priceless samples will likely help us learn more about these processes.
Another near-Earth asteroid, Bennu, which is comparable to Ryugu, was sampled by the NASA OSIRIS-REx mission. In 2023, the sample will return to Earth.
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