We finally know how water came to earth

If the origin of water on Mars occupied more scientists than any other planet in the solar system, the origin of Earth would not have been precisely defined yet. To the extent that it is the source of many articles in reputable science journals. One of them mentions that water was not when it was created

Previous hypothesis

A year ago, a group of French researchers presented New theory of the origin of water on Earth. According to them, water has been abundant since the formation of the planet. A study and hypothesis based on the isotopic composition of hydrogen in comets called carbonaceous chondrites, which is similar to water stored on Earth.

But a new, more detailed chemical analysis of the meteorite found that the particles of carbon-rich asteroids trapped inside did not match Earth’s chemical traces of water. This different chemical fingerprint, called an isotopic compound, is made up of isotopes that form chemical components that vary in the number of uncharged neutrons they contain. Therefore, carbonaceous chondrites are estimated to have water that is high in hydrogen with neutrons, while hydrogen on Earth represents a form that is essentially devoid of neutrons.

Solar respiration

According to Luke Daly, astronomer at the University of Glasgow in the UK and co-author of a new article published in the journal Natural astronomy, Says the analysis of asteroid models Extraterrestrial dust, radiated by solar wind, may have carried water toward Earth as our planet formed. These grains, whose surface is filled with water, were carried away by asteroids that collided with Earth in the distant past. So this whole theory denies the former, according to which the presence of water on our beloved blue planet was discovered from its creation.

Going further, the team of researchers analyzed the makeup of a rock type asteroid using a new technique called tomography. Using this technique, the researchers measured the atomic structure of these grains to detect individual water molecules. The analyzed specimens are from the asteroid Itokawa, visited by the Japanese explorer Hayabusa, which in 2010 delivered small fragments of this space rock to Earth.

Valuable information for future space travel

In the past, the theory of water carrying meteorites to Earth has suffered some setbacks, with the footprints of asteroids hitting the Earth – the so-called late eruption – not always compatible with the water on our planet. Phil Bland, a professor at the Center for Space Science and Technology (SSTC) at Curtin University and one of the authors of the study, explains.

So this can be explained by the theory of solar wind. Water created by solar wind, by a chemical reaction, is isotopically lighter and therefore different from water that was originally on asteroids.

According to Luke Daly, this valuable information will also be used for water supply during future space exploration. Therefore, the phenomenon described in the study may have produced significant amounts of water on other planets, and it may have been extracted directly from surface dust. A good space robbery to go on a journey.