Life always makes Earth more special than ever compared to other planets in the solar system. But recently, the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft helped Japanese scientists conduct a study that changed our thinking that Earth is the only planet where life exists.
The Hayabusa 2 spacecraft was launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2014 and returned to Earth in 2020. During its trip, the spacecraft brought back soil samples from an asteroid. The planet Ryugu is about 300 million km from Earth. Scientists have performed analysis and recently, in June 2022, they announced that they had detected 20 amino acid samples in that sample.
The ship Hayabusa 2 brought back 20 samples of amino acids.
Amino acids are types of organic compounds that contain carboxylic groups and amino is the building block of protein that’s why it’s called a component of life. They act as a source of energy to help the body grow and regenerate tissues. Thanks to this discovery, it has provided more knowledge for scientists to clearly understand the source of life on Earth. Is there still a source of life in the world out there?