RNA Building Block Discovered in a Meteorite

Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft was instrumental in making a major discovery. Building blocks that make up RNA have been found in an asteroid millions of kilometers away. The discovery supports a grand theory about life.

The Japan Space Exploration Agency launched into space in 2014 to collect samples from asteroids. Hayabusa2 The spacecraft made a discovery that would not be enough to just say ‘big’. Nucleobases, one of the most basic building blocks of life, were found in the sample sent by the spacecraft from the asteroid Ryugu to Earth.

One of the four bases in the RNA structure in a soil sample taken from the asteroid 336 million kilometers away. uracil found. In addition to uracil, it forms vitamin B3. your hope was also discovered.

Could these actually be materials that the spacecraft accidentally transported from Earth or collected from the environment when the capsule entered Earth?

  • The capsule in which the samples were brought to Earth.

Astrochemist Yasuhiro Oba from Hokkaido University stated that nucleobases and vitamins have been found in carbon-rich asteroids before. The samples obtained in these discoveries on exposure to the Earth environment. He also said that there are always doubts.

But the latest discovery leaves no room for these doubts, according to Oba. The Hayabusa2 spacecraft also used thermal insulation to ensure that the samples it collected were not contaminated in any way. in special, sealed capsules Sending it to the world.

So what does the presence of nucleobases and vitamins in an asteroid mean?

  • Formation of the Earth and Moon.

One of the most widely accepted theories of the origin of life on Earth is that the building blocks of life, caused by collisions in the formation of our planet towards.

Our Earth and other planets in our system were orbiting the Sun around 4.6 billion years ago, when our Sun was still a young star. as a result of numerous collisions of dust and asteroid particles occurred as it grew.

The theory is that the building blocks of life on Earth may also have come from deep space, caught in the Sun’s pull and eventually by these asteroids colliding with other particles was brought.

ryugu

  • Samples from Ryugu to Earth.

Nucleobases and vitamins, also found in Ryugu and other asteroids, a proof of this theory is evaluated as. In other words, life on Earth may have taken its present form thanks to building blocks that have actually come from the depths of space and traveled for a long time.

To prove this theory, it is still more evidence is needed. As part of NASA’s ongoing OSIRIS-REx mission, new samples from the asteroid Bennu will reach Earth this year. These examples are expected to provide new details on the subject.

Ryugu also recently hosted a different discovery:

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Source :
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-discover-rna-component-buried-in-the-dust-of-an-asteroid


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