Scientists believe a trace amount of water discovered in an asteroid sample collected by a Japanese space probe could provide clues to the origins of life on Earth.
Since Hayabusa2 returned with the sample from the Ryugu asteroid in December 2020, several important discoveries have been made — most notably analysis confirming the presence of substances seen as the building blocks of life on the asteroid, such as liquid water and organic matter.
SPring-8, the sprawling synchrotron radiation facility in Sayo, Hyogo Prefecture, solved the mystery hidden in the tiny sample, which a team of researchers at Ritsumeikan University, among others, were able to observe.