Icy Comet Collisions Could Spawn Building Blocks of Life on Planets

First Posted: Sep 16, 2013 07:57 AM EDT
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Could life have originated from space? It seems very likely. Scientists have discovered that comet collisions could be producing the building blocks of life, amino acids, in a type of "cosmic factory."

When a comet impacts on a world, it creates a shock wave. This shock wave, in turn, can generate molecules that make up amino acids, the building blocks of life. This shock wave can also generate heat which turns these molecules into actual amino acids.

In order to investigate these impacts, the scientists recreated a comet's crash by firing projectiles through a large high speed gun. The gun used compressed gas to propel projectiles at speeds of 7.15 km/s into targets of ice mixtures, which had a similar composition to comets.  The resulting impact created glycine, D- and L-alanine.

This revealed that when icy comets collide into a planet, they can indeed produce amino acids. These essential building blocks can also be produced if a rocky meteorite crashes into a planet with an icy surface. For example, there's an abundance of ice on the surfaces of the moons Enceladus and Europa, which orbit Saturn and Jupiter respectively. These moons could potentially provide the perfect environment for the production of amino acids.

"Our work shows that the basic building blocks of life can be assembled anywhere in the Solar System and perhaps beyond," said Zita Martins, co-author of the new paper, in a news release. "However, the catch is that these building blocks need the right conditions in order for life to flourish. Excitingly, our study widens the scope for where these important ingredients may be formed in the Solar System and adds another piece to the puzzle of how life on our planet took root."

The findings have huge implications for how life took root on Earth. In addition, it shows that life could begin on other planets. More specifically, it broadens the range of planets where this could happen.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Goescience.

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