--- title: "NASA First Look at Japanese Asteroid Samples Reveal the Building Blocks for Life" description: "NASA's analysis of Ryugu asteroid samples revealed chemical compounds that support the theory that space dust contains the building blocks for life." date: "2023-02-25" modified: "2023-02-25" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-ryugu-sample-building-blocks-life" categories: - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "asteroids" - "NASA" - "ryugu" - "the digest" --- # NASA First Look at Japanese Asteroid Samples Reveal the Building Blocks for Life ![NASA's analysis of Ryugu asteroid samples revealed chemical compounds that support the theory that space dust contains the building blocks for life.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Live Ya Life NASA's first pass at samples taken from the Ryugu asteroid has revealed chemical compounds that lend credence to the theory that space rocks could have contributed to the development of life on Earth. In a [press release](), the agency boasted that the samples it got from the Ryugu asteroid — [taken by JAXA's Hayabusa2 spacecraft](), which got back to Earth in late 2020 — are rich with the kind of organic compounds necessary for life to flourish. While that's pretty cool, it's important to note that while the Ryugu samples contain the *building blocks* for life, these compounds didn't necessarily *involve* life in their creation. Instead, they were likely the result of complex chemical reactions, as explained by the science of "prebiotic chemistry," or the study of reactions that make up the ingredients of life. "These molecules can be transported throughout the solar system, potentially dispersing as interplanetary dust particles after being ejected from the uppermost layer of the asteroid by impacts or other causes," Hiroshi Naraoka of Japan's Kyushu University, an expert in organic cosmogeochemistry who co-authored a paper on these massive findings [published this week in the journal *Science*](), said in the NASA release. ## Old Heads As the paper notes, the compounds found in the Ryugu samples may well be as old as our Solar System — or even older. "The organic matter in Ryugu probably consists of primordial materials that formed during (or before) the early stages of the Solar System’s formation," reads the paper. In the release, paper co-author Daniel Glavin of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center noted that while these potentially life-giving compounds were present in the Ryugu samples, actual signs of life were not. "Sugars and nucleobases (components of DNA and RNA) which have been discovered in some carbon-rich meteorites, have not yet been identified in samples returned from Ryugu," Glavin said in the NASA press release. "It is possible these compounds are present in asteroid Ryugu but are below our analytical detection limits given the relatively small sample mass available for study." **More on space samples:** [*NASA's Mars Rover Perseverance Just Dropped Off Its Last Sample*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()