At the end of last year, the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa 2 dropped a container with samples of the asteroid Ryugu to Earth.
However, this is not the first such case in space exploration. As early as 10 years ago, Hayabusa (first generation) delivered samples of the asteroid Itokawa to Earth. And one would think that everything that is possible has already been studied there, but this is not at all the case.
The other day, an article was published, which indicated that extraterrestrial organic matter was found in the dust particles of the asteroid. Using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy, the scientists discovered organic substances, including nanocrystalline graphite and polycyclic aromatic carbon.
Scientists exclude the ingress of organic matter on the asteroid from a space probe, that is, it is precisely extraterrestrial organic matter. True, of course, this does not at all correspond to traces of extraterrestrial life – these are only organic substances.
But they allowed scientists to determine that the asteroid Itokawa has constantly evolved during its existence. Including sometime in the past, it underwent severe heating, dehydration and destruction, probably due to a collision. At the same time, after Itokawa gathered from the fragments and replenished water reserves thanks to the fall on it of dust and carbon-rich meteorites.
Billions of years ago, it was asteroids and comets, according to one of the theories, that could bring organic elements to the Earth, which became the basis for the origin of life on our planet.
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