Asteroids are remnants of the formation of our solar system, and while many can be found within the asteroid belt between the ...

Scientists have found microorganisms crawling over a sample retrieved from the 200 million-mile-distant asteroid Ryugu. But ...

"The fact that terrestrial microbes are the Earth's best colonizers means we can never completely discount terrestrial ...

A recent discovery made by scientists working with a sample of rock from outer space highlights one of the huge challenges ...

Samples taken from the space-returned piece of asteroid Ryugu were collected and prepared under strict anti-contamination ...

The sample from the asteroid Ryugu was overrun with Earth-based life forms after they were brought to the planet, scientists ...

NASA has received samples of Asteroid Ryugu from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The samples were collected by ...

A team of researchers led by Matthew Genge at Imperial College London confirmed that the asteroid has organic molecules; it confirmed that the samples actually have signs of life — but this life doesn ...

Japanese researchers have identified sodium carbonates, or salt crystals, in samples from the Ryugu asteroid brought back to ...

The salt crystals, consisting of rock salt, sodium carbonate, and sodium sulfate, are crucial for understanding the evolution ...

Japan launched the Hayabusa2 spacecraft on a mission to fetch a sample from an asteroid. The asteroid is named 162173 Ryugu, but it's also known as 1999 JU3. Hayabusa2 lifted off from the Tanegashima ...

Discovery published in Meteoritics & Planetary Science highlights challenge of contamination in space exploration ...