Japan’s JAXA Proves That Amino Acids Float, In A Rich Diversity, On Many An Asteroid, Throughout The Universe: Building Blocks For… Life.

Not entirely surprising, here a year and a half since we last checked in on this story. And… it does confirm what exo-biologists have long posited: that complex ingredients for life, as we know it, may have been transported to Earth via collisions with ancient meteorites.[One of several backgrounders on the JAXA mission, here.]

What may be most striking is the relative diversity of the amino acids, all in one small sample, from one asteroid. This would at least suggest… an “embarrassment of riches” — an entire Universe, positively awash in these building blocks from which life may evolve. Here’s the latest, from the local Japanese papers:

…More than 20 types of amino acids have been detected in samples Japan’s Hayabusa2 space probe brought to Earth from an asteroid in late 2020, a government official said Monday, showing for the first time the organic compounds exist on asteroids in space.

With amino acids essential for all living things to make proteins, the discovery could hold clues to understanding the origins of life, the education ministry said.

In December 2020, a capsule that had been carried on a six-year mission by Hayabusa2 delivered more than 5.4 grams of surface material to Earth from the Ryugu asteroid, located over 300 million kilometers away….

Kensei Kobayashi, professor emeritus of astrobiology at Yokohama National University, said the unprecedented discovery of multiple types of amino acids on an extraterrestrial body could even hint at the existence of life outside of Earth.

“Proving amino acids exist in the subsurface of asteroids increases the likelihood that the compounds arrived on Earth from space,” he said.

It also means amino acids can likely be found on other planets and natural satellites, hinting that “life could have been born in more places in the universe than previously thought,” Kobayashi added….

We are now… as we were, then — brimming with good cheer — for a whole host of unrelated, and partially related reasons. Again very proud of my people, across the Pacific, and across the smaller pond… smile. Onward.

नमस्ते