The findings are detailed in astudypublished in Meteoritics and Planetary Science.
Usually, studies of space rocks involve meteorites, which have plunged through Earths atmosphere and hit the ground.
But two recent missionsJapans Hayabusa2 and NASAs OSIRIS-RExcollected bits of asteroid directly from outer space.
Asteroid Ryugu photographed by Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission at a distance of about 12 miles (19 kilometers).JAXA, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, University of Aizu and AIST.
The team behind the recent discovery received their own piece of Ryugu.
The microbial community originated through terrestrial contamination and did not have extraterrestrial origins, the researchers determined.
The discovery suggests that the strict protocols in place to avoid bacterial contamination just werent good enough.
In 2020, aNASA spacecraft retrieved samples from the asteroid Bennuand dropped them off on Earth in 2023.
Ryugu is a carbonaceous asteroid, a group thought to be the rocky building blocks of the solar system.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
As for the Moon, not so much.
