The Latest Breaking News from Ryugu

Japan has many iconic tourist destinations, but one place unlikely to be on many itineraries is about 90 minutes from central Tokyo – and it's just as intriguing as one of the world's most photogenic mountains.

Samples of asteroid Ryugu, collected by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft, have revealed the impact solar winds and tiny space rocks have had on the asteroid itself.

Around 15 years ago, I was on a European Space Agency (Esa) committee, looking at Esa’s strategy for proposed forthcoming space missions. Under consideration was a mission to an asteroid. Over dinner, one of the committee members, an astrophysicist, quizzed me on why we needed to visit one of these…

Hayabusa2 ferried pristine asteroid samples to Earth in 2020. A new study reveals they contain uracil, a key life building block.

How did life come about? The answer to this question goes to the very heart of our existence on planet Earth.

Two organic compounds essential for living organisms have been found in samples retrieved from the asteroid Ryugu, buttressing the notion that some ingredients crucial for the advent of life arrived on Earth aboard rocks from space billions of years ago.

Findings add to evidence that important building blocks for life could have been delivered to Earth by meteorites, scientists say.

A trio of new papers reports new evidence an asteroid's parent formed far on the outskirts of the solar system.

Findings could help shed light on how life came to exist on Earth.