The Winchcombe meteorite, which crash-landed on a driveway in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England in 2021 and was pristine enough to rival asteroid samples taken directly from space, contains [.]
The materials were found in a single grain of dust from the asteroid Itokawa
This was returned to Earth by the first Japanese Hayabusa sample return mission
It contained evidence of water and organic matter that originated on the rock
This suggests the asteroid had evolving for billions of years incorporating liquid and organic matter in the same way that the Earth does, scientists explained
Scientists discovered the presence of water and organic matter in a tiny sample from the asteroid Itowaka, which was visited by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (Jaxa) first Hayabusa mission in 2010.
The findings constitute the first time such materials were found on an asteroid, and set the groundwork for future research into asteroid samples.
As
The Independent points out, researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London suggest the asteroid may have been evolving for billions of years by picking up materials as it traveled through space.
The study also showed that the most common type of asteroid to come to Earth, S-type asteroids, can contain the raw components essential to life.