Asteroid Material Returned by Japan Probe is Oldest Material Identified and Contains 23 Amino Acids
upstart writes:
Japan asteroid probe finds 23 amino acids, researchers confirm:
A total of 23 types of amino acids were found in asteroid samples brought back by Japan's Hayabusa2 space probe, according to new studies published in the journal Science and elsewhere, shedding further light on the origins of life on Earth.
[...] Whether amino acids originated on Earth or arrived from space has been a topic of much scientific debate. The findings from Hayabusa2 appear to support the latter hypothesis.
"The search for extraterrestrial life could take off on hopes that amino-acid-based organisms could exist on Mars and beyond," said Tamagawa University professor Yoshitaka Yoshimura.
The findings also could shed more light on the birth of the solar system. Some of the samples are thought to contain compounds from when they were originally formed -- around 3 million years after the solar system was created roughly 4.6 billion years ago -- essentially making them a "fossil" of the solar system.
[...] Elemental and isotopic data revealed that Ryugu contains the most primitive pre-solar nebular (an ancient disk of gas and dust surrounding what would become the Sun) material yet identified and that some organic materials may have been inherited from before the solar system formed.
[...] The discovery of protein forming amino acids is important, because Ryugu has not been exposed to the Earth's biosphere, like meteorites, and as such their detection proves that at least some of the building blocks of life on Earth could have been formed in space environments. Hypotheses concerning the origin of life, such as those involving hydrothermal activity, require sources of amino acids, with meteorites and asteroids like Ryugu representing strong candidates due to their inventory of amino acids and because such material would have been readily delivered to the surface of the early Earth. Additionally, the isotopic characteristics of the Ryugu samples suggest that Ryugu-like material could have supplied the Earth with its water, another resource essential for the origin and sustainment of life on Earth.
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