Scientists say 'organic matter' in distant asteroid may be hiding 'origins of life'

The "cometary organic matter" was discovered by the scientists while they were studying samples from Ryugu, which is a near-Earth asteroid thatwas visited by Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft in 2018.

In December 2020, the mission returned samples to the Earth which gave scientists some potentially invaluable insights into how life originated on Earth.

According to some researchers, life may have been seeded into Earth by ancient asteroid impacts.

The team of researchers, who have been studying the samples, concluded that the surfaces of the sample may contain organic molecules, which further supports that provocative theory.

Speaking about the research in a statement, Tohoku University Graduate School of Science assistant professor and coauthor Megumi Matsumoto said, "We propose that the carbonaceous materials formed from cometary organic matter via the evaporation of volatiles, such as nitrogen and oxygen, during the impact-induced heating."

"This suggests that cometary matter was transported to the near-Earth region from the outer solar system. This organic matter might be the small seeds of life once delivered from space to Earth," he added.

Materials within 'melt splashes' resemble 'primitive organic matter'

As per the research which was published in the journal Science Advances, the team of Matsumoto found five to 20-micrometre-wide "melt splashes" in the Ryugu asteroid samples, which they claimed were formed when cometary dust rained down on the atmosphere-less space rock.

The researchers said that within these splashes, they found "carbonaceous materials" which resembled "primitive organic matter."

"The chemical compositions of the melt splashes suggest that Ryugu's hydrous silicates mixed with cometary dust," said Matsumoto.

Watch:NASA finally unlocks a canister containing precious dust samples from the asteroid Bennu

The scientists at NASA have been carrying out the investigation of asteroid Bennu samples which have been collected by its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.

The space agency, in an October announcement, said that it had discovered the "building blocks of life on Earth" in preliminary samples which were collected from outside of the sample collection instrument of the spacecraft.

The researchers, however, still need to carry out the study, till they are able to conclude that life on Earth came into existence thanks to organic matter from space.

(With inputs from agencies)