Tokyo: Water may have been brought Earth by asteroids from the outer edges of the solar system, scientists said after analyzing rare samples collected on a six-year Japanese space mission.
To shed light on the origins of life and the creation of the universe, researchers are examining material brought back to Earth by an asteroid in 2020. ryugu,
The 5.4 grams (0.2 oz) of rocks and dust were collected by a Japanese space probe called Hayabusa-2, which landed on the celestial body and fired an “impactor” at its surface.
Studies on the material are beginning to be published, and in June, a group of researchers said they had found organic material that suggests amino acids, some of the building blocks of life on Earth, may have formed in space.
In a new paper published in the journal nature astronomyScientists said the Ryugu samples may provide clues to the mystery of how oceans appeared on Earth billions of years ago.
“Volatile and organic-rich C-type asteroids may be one of the main sources of Earth’s water,” he said. study by scientists of Japan and other countries, published on Monday.
“The delivery of volatiles (that is, organics and water) to Earth is still a matter of considerable debate,” it said.
But “the organic matter found in the Ryugu particles identified in this study probably represents an important source of volatiles”.
The scientists speculated that such material probably has “outer Solar System origins”, but said it “is unlikely to be the only source of volatiles that were distributed on the early Earth”.
Hayabusa-2 was launched in 2014 on its mission to Ryugu, about 300 million kilometers away, and returned to Earth orbit two years earlier to release a capsule containing the sample.
In the Nature Astronomy study, the researchers again commended the findings made possible by the mission.
“Ryugu particles are undoubtedly among the most uncharacterized Solar System materials available for laboratory study and the ongoing investigation of these valuable samples will certainly expand our understanding of early Solar System processes,” the study said.
To shed light on the origins of life and the creation of the universe, researchers are examining material brought back to Earth by an asteroid in 2020. ryugu,
The 5.4 grams (0.2 oz) of rocks and dust were collected by a Japanese space probe called Hayabusa-2, which landed on the celestial body and fired an “impactor” at its surface.
Studies on the material are beginning to be published, and in June, a group of researchers said they had found organic material that suggests amino acids, some of the building blocks of life on Earth, may have formed in space.
In a new paper published in the journal nature astronomyScientists said the Ryugu samples may provide clues to the mystery of how oceans appeared on Earth billions of years ago.
“Volatile and organic-rich C-type asteroids may be one of the main sources of Earth’s water,” he said. study by scientists of Japan and other countries, published on Monday.
“The delivery of volatiles (that is, organics and water) to Earth is still a matter of considerable debate,” it said.
But “the organic matter found in the Ryugu particles identified in this study probably represents an important source of volatiles”.
The scientists speculated that such material probably has “outer Solar System origins”, but said it “is unlikely to be the only source of volatiles that were distributed on the early Earth”.
Hayabusa-2 was launched in 2014 on its mission to Ryugu, about 300 million kilometers away, and returned to Earth orbit two years earlier to release a capsule containing the sample.
In the Nature Astronomy study, the researchers again commended the findings made possible by the mission.
“Ryugu particles are undoubtedly among the most uncharacterized Solar System materials available for laboratory study and the ongoing investigation of these valuable samples will certainly expand our understanding of early Solar System processes,” the study said.