asteroid ryugu

According to a study released on December 21, scientists analysed organic compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) — which were extracted from the Ryugu asteroid and Murchison meteorite. They found that certain are PAHs "likely to be formed in the cold areas of space between stars, rather than in hot regions near stars as was previously thought", Curtin University said in a report. Scientists from Curtin's WA-Organic and Isotope…

In 2014, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) sent a spacecraft called Hayabusa2 on a unique mission. The spacecraft was tasked with landing on an asteroid named Ryugu and to collect rock samples from it. The spacecraft successfully completed its mission in 2020 when it returned with rock samples. In addition to collecting samples, the spacecraft also landed rovers, hit it with projectiles and spent months observing it closely. And now, after spending time analyzing the sample, scientists have been able to…

Two organic compounds essential for living organisms have been found in samples retrieved from the asteroid Ryugu, buttressing the notion that some ingredients crucial for the advent of life arrived on Earth aboard rocks from space billions of years ago.Scientists said on Tuesday they detected uracil and niacin in rocks obtained by the Japanese Space Agency's Hayabusa2 spacecraft from two sites on Ryugu in 2019. Uracil is one of the chemical building blocks for RNA, a molecule carrying directions for building and…

Ever since the samples from the asteroid Ryugu were delivered by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2020, the excitement among the astronomers has been at an all time high. And that is mainly because it is believed that this pristine piece of celestial dirt can finally answer questions around the origin of life, how the solar system was formed and more. But now, the earliest studies are coming out after two years of research into the samples and the revelations are even more…

The analysis of samples from the asteroid Ryugu has revealed the constituents that the early solar system could have been made up of. The solar system is essentially the reason why we exist today. So, it is not really surprising that humans have always been fascinated by the origin of the solar system. But despite a curiosity of hundreds of years, our knowledge around it is vastly limited. And that was part of the reason why the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the Hayabusa2 spacecraft to bring…