Preparations for announcing the results of the initial sample analysis of the asteroid Ryugu are in the final corner. The news of the discovery of amino acids has flowed, but Hayabusa2 is likely to contribute to the construction of new images of asteroids. Please look forward to future papers in which the results from chemistry, minerals, organic matter analysis, etc. will be announced by the six groups of initial analysis.
https://twitter.com/haya2_jaxa/status/1534048310469984256
Argh, dang my American upbringing where I only learned 1 language!
While the JAXA site does have an english section, it doesn't have any news updates for 2022 yet
Uracil (one of the nitrogenated nucleic bases in RNA) detected in Ryugu's samples brought to Earth by Hayabusa-2, alongside niacin (vitamin B). To note these molecules were already previously detected in meteorites, but there was always the shadow of possible terrestrial contamination - this result conclusively proves it.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36904-3The pristine sample from the near-Earth carbonaceous asteroid (162173) Ryugu collected by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft enabled us to analyze the pristine extraterrestrial material without uncontrolled exposure to the Earth’s atmosphere and biosphere. The initial analysis team for the soluble organic matter reported the detection of wide variety of organic molecules including racemic amino acids in the Ryugu samples. Here we report the detection of uracil, one of the four nucleobases in ribonucleic acid, in aqueous extracts from Ryugu samples. In addition, nicotinic acid (niacin, a B3 vitamer), its derivatives, and imidazoles were detected in search for nitrogen heterocyclic molecules. The observed difference in the concentration of uracil between A0106 and C0107 may be related to the possible differences in the degree of alteration induced by energetic particles such as ultraviolet photons and cosmic rays. The present study strongly suggests that such molecules of prebiotic interest commonly formed in carbonaceous asteroids including Ryugu and were delivered to the early Earth.
I just learned something exciting about one of Hayabusa2's extended mission targets:
As many here know, the famous interstellar object, Oumuamua was observed exhibiting an unexplained acceleration as it approached our Sun. It didn't seem to be a conventional comet since there was no visible outgassing (or out-dusting). One hypothesis, put forward by Darryl Seligman and Jennifer Bergner, is that it could be some sort of "dark comet." They proposed that it's structure could be sheltering hydrogen gas. As the object approached the sun, the outer surface was restructured (but not ejected, as in typical comets) allowing the hydrogen to escape - which would be invisible to the ground-based telescopes which studied it. Eventually, 6 other objects (all previously known NEOs) were shown to have similar unexplained accelerations. One of them is 1998 KY26!
So maybe in 2031, Hayabusa2 will be able to determine if it is a "dark comet" or if there is some other explanation. It is just a flyby, so maybe not, but we'll see.
The Crazy Story Of Japan's First Asteroid Mission - Hayabusa Survived Using Expensive Rocket Fuel
