Researchers discovered up to 20 types of amino acids on asteroid samples obtained by the Japanese Hayabusa2 space probe in December 2020, essential substances for living things on Earth.
This is the first time amino acids—the building blocks of proteins—have been found on an asteroid, Kyodo News reported, citing an unnamed Education Ministry official.
A capsule containing more than 5.4 grams of surface materials arrived in Japan in December 2020 after a 6-year odyssey to the Ryugu asteroid, located over 300 million kilometers away from Earth.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and research institutes across Japan, including the University of Tokyo and Hiroshima University, commenced the complete analysis of the samples last year….