The recent return of samples from asteroid 162173 Ryugu provides a first insight into early Solar System prebiotic evolution from known planetary bodies. Ryugu's samples are CI chondrite-like, rich in water and organic material, and primarily composed of phyllosilicate. This phyllosilicate surrounds micron to submicron macromolecular organic particles known as insoluble organic matter. Using advanced microscopy techniques on Hayabusa-2 samples, we find that aqueous alteration on Ryugu produced organic particles richer in aromatics compared to less altered carbonaceous chondrites. This challenges the view that aromatic-rich organic matter formed pre-accretion. Additionally, widespread diffuse organic material occurs in phyllosilicate more aliphatic-, carboxylic-rich, and aromatic-poor than the discrete organic particles, likely preserving the soluble organic material. Some organic particles evolved to encapsulate phyllosilicate, indicating that aqueous alteration on Ryugu led to the containment of soluble organic matter within these particles. Earth therefore has been, and continues to be, delivered micron-sized polymeric organic objects containing biologically relevant molecules.

Astromaterials Science Research Group Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Kanagawa Japan

Central European Institute of Technology Brno University of Technology Brno Czechia

Central European Institute of Technology Masaryk University Brno Czechia

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Mendel University Brno Czechia

Department of Chemistry and Life Science Yokohama National University Yokohama Japan

Department of Earth and Planetary Science The University of Tokyo Tokyo Japan

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Tokyo Institute of Technology Tokyo Japan

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences University of New Mexico Albuquerque NM USA

Department of Inorganic Chemistry Faculty of Science Charles University Prague Czechia

Department of Spectroscopy J Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry Czech Academy of Sciences Prague Czechia

ESTEC European Space Agency Noordwijk The Netherlands

Institute of Materials Structure Science High Energy Accelerator Research Organization Ibaraki Japan

School of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering National Technical University of Athens Athens Greece

Space Park Leicester School of Physics and Astronomy University of Leicester Leicester UK

TESCAN GROUP a s Brno Czechia

TESCAN USA Inc Warrendale PA USA

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