Life Found in Ryugu Asteroid Samples: A Cosmic Discovery

TOKYO – Examination of samples taken from the Ryugu asteroid an outdoor place it became interesting to scientists when they discovered that life existed.

However, the excitement soon subsided when they discovered that the microbes in the samples came from Earth.

The samples were brought to Earth in 2020 after being collected in 2019 by Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission.

Scientists handled the Ryugu samples with great care and kept them under strict contamination control, limiting the chances of contamination.

However, researchers at Imperial College London found signs of terrestrial life in the samples.

“We found microorganisms in samples brought back from the asteroid. They appeared in the rock and spread over time before disappearing,” said team leader Matthew Genge from Imperial College London as he ‘ spoke to Space.com.

“The change in the number of micro-organisms changed the fact that they were living microbes. However, it also indicated that they had recently colonized the sample before our study and that they came from land,” he said.

“Without examining their DNA, it is impossible to identify the exact type. However, it is more likely that they are bacteria such as Bacillus because these are very common filamentous microorganisms, especially in soil and rocks,” explained the researcher.

“It was surprising to find soil microbes in rocks. We usually polish meteorite samples, and microbes rarely appear there. However, it only takes one spore microbial to cause colonization,” Genge said.