Remember when Japan sent a spacecraft to an asteroid 180 million miles away to scoop some dirt off the surface? Six years on ...

A close-up of the surface of asteroid Ryugu. (MASCOT/DLR/JAXA) A new analysis of samples collected from asteroid Ryugu has yielded all five canonical nucleobases that make up RNA and DNA. It's not the ...

Ryugu’s samples reveal that water activity on asteroids lasted far longer than scientists thought, possibly reshaping theories of how Earth gained its oceans. A billion-year-old impact may have melted ...

Researchers are still studying samples of Ryugu collected by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency from its Hayabusa2 mission. After the first papers focused on the composition ...

A small, round piece of asteroid Ryugu (sample #91), called “S-lunar,” contains tiny particles (less than 1 mm) that will allow planetary scientists to study the magnetic signature of the early solar ...

Since last year, Hayabusa2, the Japanese probe, has been studying the asteroid called Ryugu. Since last year, Hayabusa2, the Japanese probe, has been studying the asteroid called Ryugu. It surveyed ...

On Thursday night, a Japanese spacecraft will try to fire a bullet at a giant rock in space. If it succeeds, it could help advance understanding of how our planet formed in the early solar system. In ...

To uncover the history of our solar system, it is necessary to study the dynamic evolution of the ancient solar nebula materials. These materials interacted and coevolved with the weak but widespread ...

Grab-and-go missions to asteroids have provided some of the most scientifically valuable samples since the Apollo missions—and they’re shaking up the search for life beyond Earth. The OSIRIS-REx ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Ryugu asteroid samples preserve magnetic signals from the early solar system, revealing clues about the solar nebula. (CREDIT: ...