Two hundred million miles distant, a 'rubber-ducky' asteroid has the building components of life

According to scientists' findings, this suggests that life might be more prevalent than was previously believed.

 

On an asteroid in orbit, for the first time, scientists have discovered the components essential for the formation of life.

 

More than 20 different amino acids have been identified by Japanese researchers on the space asteroid Ryugu, which is located more than 300 million kilometres away from Earth.

 

By analyzing samples that were returned from the near-Earth asteroid by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which arrived on Ryugu in 2018, researchers were able to make a discovery that is the first of its kind. In 2019, the spacecraft successfully retrieved 0.2 ounces (5.4 grams) of material from the surface and subsurface of the asteroid, sealed it in an airtight container, and then sent it hurtling back toward Earth on a precisely controlled trajectory.

 

Scientists believe that the rapid rotation of the asteroid caused the peculiar spinning top shape of Ryugu. Ryugu is not made up of a single giant boulder but rather a collection of several smaller pebbles. Ryugu is classified as a carbonaceous asteroid, also known as a C-type asteroid, and it has a significant quantity of carbon-rich organic material. A significant portion of this material most likely came from the same nebula that gave birth to the sun and the planets in the solar system approximately 4.6 billion years ago. Examining samples taken in the past has also provided evidence that the asteroid contains water.

 

Hisayoshi Yurimoto, a geoscience professor at Hokkaido University and the leader of the Hayabusa2 mission's initial chemical analysis team, stated this while outlining the initial findings at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in March. Yurimoto was providing an overview of the Hayabusa2 mission's findings. Yurimoto said the Ryugu material is the most primitive material in the solar system we have ever studied.

 

The chemical composition of the pitch-black asteroid samples is much closer to that of the early solar system than that of the organic molecules found on Earth. This is because the samples have not been altered by interactions with the Earth's environment, unlike the organic molecules found on Earth. Scientists found that the samples only reflect between 2% and 3% of the light that hits them.

 

Hiroshi Naraoka, a planetary scientist at Kyushu University and the leader of the team that looked for organic matter in the samples, stated at the conference that his group found a variety of prebiotic organic compounds in the samples. These compounds include proteinogenic amino acids, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons similar to terrestrial petroleum, and various nitrogen compounds. Naraoka is also the person who led the team that looked for organic matter in the samples. These primordial organic molecules have the potential to disperse across the solar system, maybe as interplanetary dust originating from the surface of Ruygu as a result of an impact or other factors.

 

According to the education ministry of Japan, the number of different types of amino acids discovered through sample analysis has increased to more than 20. Initially, the number was just 10. The existence of life on our planet is contingent upon the presence of amino acids because they are the elements that are used in the construction of all proteins and are therefore essential. A study published in 2019 in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta found organic molecules from space in a group of 3.3 billion-year-old rocks discovered in South Africa. This raises the possibility that some or all of these life-building molecules first arrived on Earth on comets and asteroids. The study was conducted in South Africa. The observations from Ryugu make the case that asteroids transport these compounds are even more compelling. [citation needed]

 

Kensei Kobayashi, a professor emeritus of astrobiology at Yokohama National University, spoke with Kyodo News about the topic, "proving that amino acids exist in the subsurface of asteroids strengthens the chance that the compounds arrived on Earth from space." This indicates that amino acids might potentially be discovered on other planets and natural satellites, which is a sign that "life could have been created in more places in the universe than previously assumed," as he said further.

 

The researchers are carrying on with analyzing the Ryugu samples, and additional information on the origin of the asteroid and its make-up will be made public very soon.

 

Additionally, Ryugu is not the only space rock that is being researched at this time. The OSIRIS-REx mission, operated by NASA, obtained a sample of rock from the diamond-shaped asteroid known as Bennu in 2021. When the sample is brought back to Earth in 2023, evidence of organic matter within it may give scientists crucial insights into the solar system's history and its materials, as well as how life arose from these materials.

Article source : https://www.livescience.com/20-amino-acid-types-found-on-ryugu

Image source  : https://pixabay.com/id/photos/planet-kosmos-bulan-sendirian-1956031/

# Rubber-duky asteroid 200 million kilometers away has the basic components of life's chemistry