It is the first material brought to Earth from a carbon-rich asteroid and could reveal how the cosmic corner of our universe formed. The organic and hydrated minerals locked within this asteroid could also explain the origin of life.
“Some of the properties of the Ryugu material are close to the carbon chondrites we have in our collection, while some are clearly different, which is quite interesting,” said Cedric Pilorget, lead author of the second study and professor at the Universite Paris – Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale Saclay in France. quoted CNN, Tuesday (12/21/2021).
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Pilorget said rock samples from Ryugu is a valuable collection that can contribute to revisiting the paradigm of the origin and evolution of the Solar System.
Samples from the asteroid Ryugu provide researchers with a rare opportunity to study firsthand the remnants of the origin of the solar system and its planets. That’s because they haven’t been contaminated by falling through Earth’s atmosphere and landing on its surface, like meteorites.
“As a member of the mission team, I had the pleasure of handling and analyzing the first C-type asteroid sample with my hands,” said Toru Yada, lead author of the study and associate senior researcher at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Institute of Space Science and Astronautics.
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Some samples have been shared with other research teams and more findings about Ryugu expected soon. “We wanted to compare the Ryugu sample with the asteroid Bennu sample to see what they were similar and what was different between them,” Yada said.
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