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Science

Japan asteroid probe finds 23 amino acids, researchers confirm

'Fossil' from early solar system advances understanding into origin
of life

[https]
The Ryugu asteroid is seen in this photo taken by Hayabusa2 in
November 2019. (Handout photo from JAXA)   (c) Kyodo
RYOSUKE MATSUZOE, Nikkei staff writerJune 10, 2022 03:03 JST | Japan
[                    ]CopyCopied
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TOKYO -- 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.

Two teams -- one including researchers at Japan's Hokkaido University
and Tokyo Institute of Technology, and another including researchers
at Okayama University -- published two studies dated Friday.

Researchers in Japan and abroad have been analyzing the samples since
they were recovered in late 2020. After sending the samples back to
Earth, Hayabusa2 has gone on a mission to another asteroid.

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, which are essential
to life. Those collected from the asteroid Ryugu include glutamic
acid, which is responsible for the taste of umami, and valine, which
cannot be synthesized by the human body, the researchers found.

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.

[https] The Hayabusa2 space probe brought back samples from the Ryugu
asteroid. (Handout photo from JAXA)   (c) Kyodo [https]

"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.

Previous samples collected from a comet contained few compounds,
while those from meteorites may have been contaminated with
Earth-based materials. The samples from Ryugu are expected to serve
as a better baseline for materials found in the rest of the solar
system.

"If we can closely analyze materials that were created soon after the
birth of the solar system, we'll have a clearer picture of what was
happening back then," said Junichi Watanabe, a professor at the
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

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