The asteroid Ryugu contains some of the most primitive material ever studied in a laboratory on Earth, dating back to just 5 million years after the formation of the solar system, according to an analysis of samples retrieved by Japan's Hayabusa2 mission.
Because it is so old, it is made of the same stuff that formed the planets. "Ryugu is one of the building blocks of Earth," team-member Hisayoshi Yurimoto, a professor at Hokkaido University in Japan, told Space.com.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hayabusa2 spacecraft launched in December 2014 and arrived at asteroid Ryugu in 2019. It retrieved two small samples of regolith, amounting to 5.4 grams, from the asteroid. These samples then landed on Earth in a capsule equipped with a parachute in December 2020.
Read more: https://www.space.com/asteroid-ryugu-sa ... an-planets
Asteroid Ryugu contains material older than the planets, among the most primitive ever studied on Earth
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fred8615
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Asteroid Ryugu contains material older than the planets, among the most primitive ever studied on Earth
Frederick J. Barnett
"Someone's got to take the responsibility if the job's going to get done!! Do you think that's easy?!" Gregory Peck - The Guns Of Navarone
"Someone's got to take the responsibility if the job's going to get done!! Do you think that's easy?!" Gregory Peck - The Guns Of Navarone