Scientists have discovered that a sample of the asteroid Ryugu was overrun with Earth-based life forms after being delivered to our planet. The research shows how successful terrestrial micro-organisms are at colonization, even on extraterrestrial materials.
The samples were collected by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s spacecraft Hayabusa2, which launched in December 2014 and rendezvoused with Ryugu in June 2018. Haybusa2 then spent a year studying the asteroid, which has a diameter of around 3,000 feet (900 meters), before diving to its surface and scooping out a sample.
