Asteroidal Organics from the Sample Return Mission Hayabusa2 and their Implication for Understanding our Origins

Abstract

The C-type asteroid Ryugu samples returned by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft are the chemically most pristine material in the Solar System, as they have not been exposed to terrestrial environments. The organic matter in Ryugu records the molecular evolution from the Sun’s parent molecular cloud chemistry to asteroidal aqueous alteration. In this article, we review the results of Ryugu sample analysis and discuss the evolution of organic matter in the early Solar System by comparing these results with recent radio and infrared observations of protostars and protoplanetary disks.