Overview
- Researchers report in Nature Astronomy that adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine and uracil were all detected in returned Ryugu material.
- The samples were collected directly on the asteroid by JAXA’s Hayabusa2 and delivered to Earth in 2020, minimizing the risk of terrestrial contamination.
- Earlier work on NASA’s OSIRIS‑REx Bennu samples found the same five nucleobases, and the two datasets together bolster the exogenous delivery hypothesis.
- Comparative chemistry shows distinct nucleobase mixtures across asteroids and meteorites, with Ryugu nearly balanced and a new correlation with ammonia noted for further study.
- Study authors emphasize the detections do not indicate life on Ryugu and infer the organics formed in the early Solar System roughly 4.5 billion years ago.