The latest paper from the Japanese space agency (Jaxa) sample return mission to asteroid Ryugu is , which provides moreevidence to support long-standing theories about where Earthgot itswaterfromasteroids like Ryugu. .
"Volatile, organic-rich C-type asteroids may have been one of the main sources of water on Earth," says Tsuda, project manager for Jaxa's sample return mission. The research team led by Yuichi writes in . Monday Paper published in Nature Astronomy.
However, they continue, the theory is largely based on carbonaceous chondrite meteorites that fell to Earth . It is then modified by interaction with the global environment.
Planetary scientists believe that an asteroid or comet struck the nascent Earth, supplying it with water. However,an article on the Carnegie Institute of Science websitestates that the comet's chemical composition does not quite match what scientists would expect based on the minerals found on Earth. .
Scientists believe that large asteroids known as planetesimals, which are rich in volatile substances such as hydrogen and water stored in clay, are more chemically compatible as sources of water on Earth. He theorizes that many current asteroids, such as Ryugu, can preserve protoplanetoid-like material in extreme freezing conditions.
The latest results from laboratory tests of materials sampled from Ryugu and brought back to Earth by Jaxa's Hayabusa2 mission in December are a good example of materials that formed in the early solar system. I am sure there is. Some carbonaceous chondrite meteorites were sloughed off, but not altered by Earth's chemistry.
"Ryugu particles are the cleanest, unfractionated extraterrestrial material ever studied, and best match the composition of much of the solar system." writes the researcher. For example, carbonaceous chondrite meteorites contain the minerals ferrihydrite and sulfate, but researchers did not find these minerals in Ryugu samples.
After rendezvous with Ryugu, in 2019 Jaxa's Hayabusa2 mission used the Impactor to sample her 5.4 grams of surface material from a near-Earth asteroid one kilometer in diameter.
Previous laboratory analyzes indicate that Ryugu is a good and possible example of primordial solar system material,but it also contains the organic material necessary to make DNA.that not only did asteroids provide water to Earth, but also some of the building blocks of life.
