Oxygen-Bearing Organic Components in Ryugu Samples

The Hayabusa2 mission visited the near-Earth Cb-type asteroid (162173) Ryugu and has returned to Earth with the surface material of Ryugu. Ryugu is an airless rubble pile asteroid exposed to space weathering. Initial organic analyses indicate that Ryugu contains aliphatic rich, ketone and carboxyl functional groups, in associated with phyllosilicate and carbonate minerals. Here we investigate the alteration history of Ryugu by comparing the organic content of carbonate-bearing Ryugu samples to that of naturally and experimentally heated meteorites.