Space & Astronomy

Asteroid sample contains all the building blocks of DNA and RNA

By T.K. Randall
March 18, 2026

Image: Sample of Asteroid Ryugu Retrieved By Hayabusa2
Credit: ISAS/JAXA / CC BY 4.0 (adapted) Part of the Japanese Space Agency's MINERVA-II-1 program, the Hayabusa-2 probe launched all the way back in 2014 and arrived in orbit around the asteroid Ryugu in 2018.

During its mission, the probe collected several samples of rocks and soil that were then sent back to the Earth for study inside a small capsule.

These arrived safely in 2020 and scientists have been studying them ever since.

Now, the most recent study of the samples has revealed that Ryugu is home to all of the essential ingredients of DNA and RNA.What's more, the same building blocks were also found recently on the asteroid Bennu as well.

This means that the building blocks of life are likely to be commonplace throughout the solar system and that the emergence of life on Earth may have relied upon space rocks such as Ryugu to deliver the necessary ingredients, even if life didn't actually arise directly on the asteroids themselves.

It also suggests that the same building blocks of life would likely have made their way to moons and planetary bodies across our solar system such as Mars, Europa and Enceladus.

Perhaps, then, the question of where life might have arisen in the universe centers upon not only the conditions of any given world, but also the availability of asteroids and comets carrying the necessary building blocks to make life possible.

Source: Phys.org

Tags: Asteroid