Substances Essential for Life Found in Asteroid Samples Collected by Japan’s Space Probe

Asteroid Ryugu is photographed by the ONC-T which is equipped on Hayabusa 2 probe after a journey of around 3.2 billion km since launch, in outer space 280 million km from the Earth, on June 24, 2018 at around 00:01 JST, in this handout photo released by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Mandatory credit JAXA-Tokyo University/Handout via Reuters

Researchers discovered up to 20 types of amino acids on asteroid samples obtained by the Japanese Hayabusa2 space probe in December 2020, essential substances for living things on Earth.

This is the first time amino acids—the building blocks of proteins—have been found on an asteroid, Kyodo News reported, citing an unnamed Education Ministry official.