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

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

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

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

A Ryugu asteroid sample has been found contaminated by terrestrial microbes, raising questions about planetary protection.

The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 delivered samples of the asteroid Ryugu to Earth back in 2020, and since then, teams of ...

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 ...

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

The samples were collected by Japan's Hayabusa-2 spacecraft, which launched in December 2014 and successfully rendezvoused ...

Asteroid Ryugu was altered by water and contains organic molecules older than the Sun. The building blocks of RNA and Vitamin ...

Thankfully, the asteroid was small in size, estimated to be a mere 27 inches in diameter. Scientists expected it to be no ...