A long exposure shows the light trail of a re-entry capsule, which carries samples collected from a distant asteroid after it was released by the Japanese space probe Hayabusa-2 (Photo by Morgan Sette / AFP) (Photo by MORGAN SETTE / AFP via Getty Images)
The Japanese space probe Hayabusa2 has detected several amino acids, known as “building blocks of life”, in the dust carried by an asteroid.
Japanese researchers say the finding could even mean that there is life beyond Earth.
Amino acids are not evidence of life, but they are essential for living things to produce proteins.
The Hayabusa2 spacecraft delivered 5.4 grams of surface material from the asteroid Ryugu to Earth, according to Kyodo News.
The 186 million mile journey took the probe six years.
Preliminary analysis of the material suggested the presence of water and organic chemicals, the researchers say.
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Asteroids (and the meteorites and meteorites that sometimes come from them) are remnants of the formation of our Solar System 4.6 billion years ago.
Most reside in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Yuichi Tsuda (second from right), director of the Hayabusa-2 project, speaks after a capsule containing samples taken from a distant asteroid hit Earth on December 6, 2020 (Photo by STR / JIJI PRESS / AFP ) / Japan OUT (Photo by STR / JIJI PRESS) / AFP via Getty Images)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency partnered with universities such as the University of Tokyo to investigate the sample.
Some researchers believe that amino acids may have reached the ancient Earth with meteorites.
Meteors found on Earth are often contaminated by microorganisms on Earth, so Hayabusa2 collected materials from the asteroid’s subsoil and delivered them to Earth without contact with air.
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Kensei Kobayashi, professor emeritus of astrobiology at Yokohama National University, said: “Proving that amino acids exist in the subsoil of asteroids increases the likelihood that compounds will reach Earth from space.”
The professor also said the finding suggested that “life could have been born in more places in the universe than previously thought.”
The spacecraft, launched in 2014 from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center, traveled for four years to the asteroid Ryugu, where it collected a sample and returned home in November 2019.
The story goes on
The Japanese vessel, so named by the peregrine falcon, a bird of prey, orbited the asteroid for a few months to map its surface before landing.
He used small explosives to blow up a crater and collected the resulting debris.
After Hayabusa2 left the capsule in 2020, it changed course and returned to space.
Look, the discovery of amino acids in the asteroid could indicate extraterrestrial life