Asteroid Ryugu: building blocks of life found in samples

It was in 2019 that the Japanese probe Hayabusa-2 collected samples from the asteroid Ryugusamples which were recovered on the mainland in December 2020. The first analyzes of these samples, published in June 2021, already revealed large quantities of hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen atoms.

Now researchers at Okayama University confirm the discovery of a large number of amino acids, the building blocks of all biological life. This major discovery is an important stone in the building of the hypothesis which asserts that amino acids and other organic molecules were possibly brought to Earth by Ryugu-type asteroids. As a reminder, Ryugu is the oldest object in the solar system ever studied by man, and would in fact date from the period of formation of the sun, around 4.5 billion years ago.

The conclusions of the Japanese scientists now leave great hopes concerning the analyzes of the samples from Bennu (NASA’s Osiris-Rex mission), analyzes whose results should be known as early as next year.