The Hayabusa2 mission, a landmark endeavor in space exploration, brought back samples from Ryugu, providing a rare opportunity to directly study materials from an asteroid's surface. These samples are proving to be a veritable trove of information, not just about Ryugu but about broader solar system processes.

Leading the research team is Assistant Professor Megumi Matsumoto from the Earth Science Department at Tohoku University Graduate School of Science. The findings, detailed in a paper published in Science Advances on January 19, 2024, focus on the analysis of Ryugu's surface materials and their interaction with cometary matter.

Ryugu's lack of a protective atmosphere means its surface is directly exposed to the harsh environment of space. This exposure has significant implications, particularly with how the asteroid interacts with interplanetary dust. Matsumoto and her team's investigation revealed that Ryugu's surface bears the marks of these interactions in the form of small 'melt splashes,' which are between 5 to 20 micrometers in size. These formations are a direct result of the asteroid being bombarded by micrometeoroids of cometary dust.

"Our 3D CT imaging and chemical analyses showed that the melt splashes consist mainly of silicate glasses with voids and small inclusions of spherical iron sulfides," Matsumoto explains. This intricate composition indicates a mixture of Ryugu's hydrous silicates and cometary dust.

The process that creates these melt splashes is both violent and revealing. When cometary dust impacts the surface of Ryugu, it induces heating, mixing, and then rapid cooling of the materials involved. This sequence results in the unique structures observed by the team. The voids found in these splashes are particularly telling, as they likely formed from water vapor released from Ryugu's hydrous silicates, captured within the rapidly cooling material.

Further analysis brought to light small carbonaceous materials within these melt splashes. These materials are rich in nano-pores and iron sulfide inclusions, bearing a striking resemblance to primitive organic matter found in cometary dust. However, a notable difference is their lack of nitrogen and oxygen, setting them apart chemically from typical organic matter.

"We propose that the carbonaceous materials formed from cometary organic matter via the evaporation of volatiles, such as nitrogen and oxygen, during the impact-induced heating. This suggests that cometary matter was transported to the near-Earth region from the outer solar system," Matsumoto adds. This discovery is significant, as it supports the hypothesis that organic matter, potentially the very seeds of life, could have been delivered to Earth from space.

The team's future efforts will focus on examining more Ryugu samples to uncover additional melt splashes, which could provide further insights into the influx of primitive space materials to Earth. This ongoing research not only deepens our understanding of asteroids like Ryugu but also sheds light on the complex journey of organic materials through the solar system.

Research Report:Microstructural and chemical features of impact melts on Ryugu particle surfaces: Records of interplanetary dust hit on asteroid Ryugu

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