Papers

Peer-reviewed Lead author Corresponding author
Jun, 2020

The Albedo of Ryugu: Evidence for a High Organic Abundance, as Inferred from the Hayabusa2 Touchdown Maneuver

ASTROBIOLOGY
  • Christian Potiszil
  • ,
  • Ryoji Tanaka
  • ,
  • Katsura Kobayashi
  • ,
  • Tak Kunihiro
  • ,
  • Eizo Nakamura

Volume
20
Number
7
Language
English
Publishing type
Research paper (scientific journal)
DOI
10.1089/ast.2019.2198
Publisher
MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC

The Hayabusa2 mission successfully collected samples from the asteroid Ryugu last year and will return these to Earth in December 2020. It is anticipated that the samples will enable the analysis of terrestrially uncontaminated organic matter and minerals. Such analyses are in turn expected to elucidate the evolution of organic matter through Solar System history, including the origination and processing of biogenically important molecules, which could have been utilized by the first organisms on Earth. In anticipation, studies have made predictions concerning the properties of Ryugu, including its composition. The spectral characteristics of Ryugu, such as albedo, have been employed to relate the asteroid to members of the carbonaceous chondrite group that have been identified on Earth. However, the recent Hayabusa2 touchdown highlights a disparity between the color of surfaces of displaced platy fragments, indicating a brightening trend for the surface exposed to space compared to that facing into the body. Here we present a mass balance calculation with reference to data from the literature, which indicates that Ryugu may contain a significantly higher abundance of organic matter (likely >50%) than the currently most accepted meteorite analogues. A high organic content may result in high levels of extractable organic matter for the second touchdown site, where the spacecraft sampled freshly exposed material. However, high abundances of insoluble aromatic/graphitic rich organic matter may be present in the first touchdown site, which sampled the surface of Ryugu that had been exposed to space. Moreover, we suggest that the potentially high organic abundance and the rubble-pile nature of Ryugu may originate from the capture of rocky debris by a comet nucleus and subsequent water-organic-mineral interactions and sublimation of water ice.

Link information
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2019.2198
Web of Science
https://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=JSTA_CEL&SrcApp=J_Gate_JST&DestLinkType=FullRecord&KeyUT=WOS:000541711900001&DestApp=WOS_CPL
URL
http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85088204484&partnerID=MN8TOARS
ID information
  • DOI : 10.1089/ast.2019.2198
  • ISSN : 1531-1074
  • eISSN : 1557-8070
  • ORCID - Put Code : 100317830
  • SCOPUS ID : 85088204484
  • Web of Science ID : WOS:000541711900001

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