A team of NASA-funded scientists has solved an enduring mystery from the Apollo missions to the moon – the origin of organic matter found in lunar samples returned to Earth. Samples of the lunar soil brought back by the Apollo astronauts contain low levels of organic matter in the form of amino acids. Certain amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, essential molecules used by life to build structures like hair and skin and to regulate chemical reactions.

Since the lunar surface is completely inhospitable for known forms of life, scientists don’t think the organic matter came from life on the moon. Instead, they think the amino acids could have come from four possible sources.

The full story is available on the NASA website.

The research, “The origin of amino acids in lunar regolith samples,” is published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.

The program was supported by NASA’s Lunar Advanced Science and Exploration Research (LASER), the NASA Astrobiology Institute, and the Goddard Center for Astrobiology.