Terrestrial Bacteria Thrive in Ryugu Asteroid Sample Despite Precautions

Researchers from Imperial College London found that a sample from asteroid Ryugu, returned by the JAXA Hayabusa 2 mission, was rapidly colonized by terrestrial microorganisms despite strict contamination controls. The study highlights the challenges of preventing Earth microbes from contaminating extraterrestrial samples, as even cleanroom environments are not foolproof. This finding underscores the difficulty of maintaining sample integrity in space missions and suggests that terrestrial life can easily exploit extraterrestrial organic material, supporting aspects of the panspermia hypothesis.