In December 2020, the Japanese mission Hayabusa 2 delivered soil from the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu to Earth. While analysis
A new study suggestswhy Ryugu is not as rich in water-bearing minerals as some other asteroids. According to the new work, the ancient parent body from which Ryugu was formed may have dried out as a result of intense heat, even before Ryugu emerged.
One of the things we're trying to understand is...this is the distribution of water in the early solar system and how this water might have been brought to Earth. It is believed that it was partially carried by water-bearing asteroids, therefore, by carefully studying Ryugu, we can better understand the history of the Earth and near-Earth asteroids.
Ralph Milliken, a planetary scientist at Brown University and co-author of the study
One of the reasons why soil samples decidedTake specifically from Ryugu is that it belongs to the class of dark-colored asteroids and possibly contains water-bearing minerals and organic compounds. These types of asteroids are believed to be the putative parent bodies for the dark, water-carbon-bearing meteorites found on Earth, also called carbonaceous chondrites.
These meteorites have been studied in detail in laboratories.around the world for many decades, but it is impossible to determine with certainty from which asteroid a given carbonaceous-chondrite meteorite might originate.
New data suggests that the subsurfacethe water is very similar to the outer surface. Therefore, Ryugu's body was likely dry to begin with. However, more work needs to be done to confirm this discovery, the researchers said. For example, the size of particles recovered from the subsurface can affect the interpretation of spectrometer measurements.
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An artificial object was found in soil samples from the asteroid Ryugu. Like this?