Ryugu is a near-Earth asteroid that gained significant attention when the Japanese Hayabusa2 mission collected samples and returned them to Earth. These samples have proven to supply a treasure trove of insights into the solar systems, including the possible role of asteroids in delivering organic molecules to earth.
Now, a team of scientists have performed an intensive investigation of Ryugu samples, discovering evidence that points to cometary organic matter being transported from space to the near-Earth region.
The team included Megumi Matsumoto, an assistant professor from the Earth Science Department at Tohoku University Graduate School of Science. Details of their findings were published within the journal Science Advances on January 19, 2024.
Asteroid Ryugu has no protective atmospheres, and its surface layer is directly exposed to space. Small interplanetary dust in space can hit the asteroid surface, causing changes to the composition of the asteroid surface materials.
Matsumoto and her colleagues revealed that the sample surfaces contain small ‘melt splashes,’ ranging in size from 5 to twenty micrometers. These melt splashes were created when micrometeoroids of cometary dust bombarded Ryugu.
“Our 3D CT imaging and chemical analyses showed that the melt splashes consist mainly of silicate glasses with voids and small inclusions of spherical iron sulfides,” says Matsumoto. “The chemical compositions of the melt splashes suggest that Ryugu’s hydrous silicates mixed with cometary dust.”
The blending and melting of Ryugu’s surface materials and cometary dust during impact induced heating and rapid cooling formed the melt splashes. The voids correspond to the water vapor released from the Ryugu’s hydrous silicates and subsequently captured within the melt splashes.
Evaluation also revealed small carbonaceous materials with abundant nano-pores and iron sulfide inclusions within the melt splashes. The carbonaceous materials are texturally much like primitive organic matter in cometary dust, though they lack nitrogen and oxygen, making them chemically different from organic matter.
“We propose that the carbonaceous materials formed from cometary organic matter via the evaporation of volatiles, corresponding to nitrogen and oxygen, through the impact-induced heating. This implies that cometary matter was transported to the near-Earth region from the outer solar system,” adds Matsumoto. “This organic matter could be the small seeds of life once delivered from space to Earth.”
Looking ahead, the team hopes to look at Ryugu samples to search out more melt splashes that may provide further insights into the influx of primitive space materials into Earth.
