If it seems like all we’re talking about is our planet Earth, you aren’t wrong. Right now, there aren’t a lot of big headlines coming from other sources. We do have a nice report on a sample brought back by Hayabusa – the original Hayabusa – from the asteroid Itokawa. 

From the detailed study of a single grain, researchers have been able to determine that, and here I quote from the release: the asteroid [has] gone through extreme heating, dehydration, and shattering due to catastrophic impact. However, despite this, the asteroid came back together from the shattered fragments and rehydrated itself with water that was delivered via the in fall of dust or carbon-rich meteorites.

This work is published in Scientific Reports and was led by Queenie Chan.

That single grain was just ten microns in size and contained both the raw stuff the asteroid formed out of, as well as material that had been altered through heating, and this material was the same type of carbon-rich molecules that can be used to build life. To be clear, this asteroid didn’t have life, but it demonstrates just how common the ingredients might be.

More Information

Royal Hollaway press release

“Organic matter and water from asteroid Itokawa,” Q. H. S. Chan et al., 2021 March 4, Scientific Reports