Samples From Near-Earth Asteroid , Reveal Building Blocks of Life.<br />CNN reports that Japan's Hayabusa2 mission <br />has detected organic molecules in samples <br />collected from near-Earth asteroid Ryugu.<br />According to researchers, samples taken from <br />two different locations on the asteroid revealed <br />uracil, a key element in the building blocks of RNA.<br />CNN explains that uracil is a nitrogen-containing <br />compound, otherwise known as a nucleobase, and <br />one of the five nucleobases found in DNA and RNA.<br />The samples also revealed evidence of niacin, <br />otherwise known as B3, which plays a critical role <br />in the metabolic processes of living organisms.<br />CNN reports that Ryugu is known <br />to be a carbon-rich, diamond-shaped asteroid <br />measuring an estimated 3,000 feet wide.<br />Japan's Hayabusa2 mission was <br />the first attempt to bring back and analyze <br />a subsurface sample from an asteroid. .<br />The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency<br />was the first to detect amino acids and other <br />molecules in the samples collected from Ryugu.<br />Scientists have previously found <br />nucleobases and vitamins in certain <br />carbon-rich meteorites, but there was <br />always the question of contamination <br />by exposure to the Earth’s environment, Yasuhiro Oba, lead study author and associate <br />professor at Hokkaido University in Japan, via CNN.<br />Since the Hayabusa2 spacecraft collected <br />two samples directly from asteroid Ryugu <br />and delivered them to Earth in sealed <br />capsules, contamination can be ruled out, Yasuhiro Oba, lead study author and associate <br />professor at Hokkaido University in Japan, via CNN.<br />The details of the team's <br />findings were published March 21 <br />in the journal 'Nature Communications.'
