When a Japanese research team analyzed samples collected from asteroids, they discovered silicate minerals that contain organic matter. Experts have judged that silicates are heat-resistant and may be the “cradle” that once safely sent organic matter, which is regarded as the origin of life, to the earth.
Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that the Japanese probe “Hayabusa 2” (Hayabusa 2) will collect sand and gravel samples from the asteroid “Ryugu” (Ryugu) and send them back to Earth. Possible methods for transporting organic matter from the origin of life in the universe to Earth in ancient times.
Researchers have found that the structure of heat-resistant minerals that envelop organic matter like protecting organic matter may allow minerals to play a role in transporting organic matter to the earth, and then play a role in the birth of life together with the materials on the earth.
The sandstone samples included large grains of the mineral silicate, which contained an unidentified type of organic matter. Silicate contains water and organic matter, and the organic matter inside will be decomposed by the temperature above 30 degrees Celsius.
The large silicates, which are heat-resistant, “may successfully play the role of bringing water and organic matter to Earth,” said lead researcher Motoo Ito of the Oceanographic Agency.
The research team has published the above research results in the electronic version of the British scientific journal “Nature Astronomy” on the 15th.
Ryugu was formed regarding 4.6 billion years ago, and it has preserved the original state of the solar system quite completely. It is also called the “fossil of the solar system” because it can investigate substances and states that cannot be confirmed on Earth.
According to the sample analysis so far, a research team composed of Okayama University in Japan has discovered 23 amino acids, the basic unit of protein, in June this year.
Hayabusa-2 was launched in 2014, collected samples in Ryugu twice in 2019, and successfully returned the samples to Earth in December 2020. Research teams at home and abroad continue to conduct sample analysis.
The research team made new progress in analyzing the samples and learned that certain minerals contained organic matter, which might provide clues to how water and organic matter were brought to Earth, NHK reported.
According to the analysis of other research teams so far, in addition to the amino acids found in the Ryugu samples, it is believed that there was a large amount of water on the celestial bodies before it became the current Ryugu.
A team of researchers from the Ocean Research and Development Institute analyzed several minerals contained in the Ryugu samples in detail, and found that minerals called silicates contain organic matter.
Ito said that silicate minerals are also visible substances on the earth, and it may be a “cradle”-like existence that once delivered water and organic matter to the earth safely.
In addition, TV Asahi reported that when the research team analyzed the Ryugu sample, it also found that its hydrogen and nitrogen characteristics are very similar to cosmic dust farther out than Neptune, the outermost planet in the solar system.
Therefore, it is concluded that the celestial body of the predecessor of Ryugu may have been born at the edge of the solar system, moved and split, and finally came to its current position between the earth and Mars.
In addition, certain minerals in the sample may act as a “cradle” that protects the moisture and organic matter in the sample from thermal decomposition or change, so the origin of life may have been transported to Earth from the edge of the solar system.