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00:04 This is asteroid Ryugu, the epicenter of the Hayabusa 2 mission,
00:08 which landed on the giant space rock back in 2020.
00:11 Its goal was to bring back samples from the asteroid,
00:14 which is currently whizzing around the solar system at around 38,000 miles per hour.
00:18 The mission was the first of its kind,
00:20 with their previous analysis discovering amino acids,
00:23 vitamin B3 and interstellar dust within the samples.
00:26 Now experts say they've found evidence of micrometeorite impacts as well,
00:30 and it could lead to answers about the origins of life on our planet.
00:34 The researchers say the micrometeorites probably came from other comets,
00:38 and they contain carbonaceous materials.
00:40 They add it's quite similar to primitive organic matter
00:43 that is often found in extremely old comet dust,
00:46 with Megumi Matsumoto, the lead investigator studying the Ryugu material,
00:49 saying about it, quote,
00:50 "This organic matter might be the small seeds of life once delivered from space to Earth."
00:55 Asteroids orbiting our sun are believed to be the leftovers of our solar system's assembly,
01:00 and experts are hoping further investigation
01:02 will finally answer the question of where we came from.
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