The European Space Agency's Rosetta probe revolutionized our understanding of comets by discovering a vast array of organic molecules, including amino acids and dimethyl sulfide. Similar missions, Hayabusa2 and Osiris-Rex, have returned samples from asteroids Bennu and Ryugu, further confirming the widespread presence of these life-building blocks in the solar system.
Ten years ago, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta probe pulled up alongside a dusty, icy lump the size of a mountain. The probe would follow its quarry, a comet called 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, for two years as onboard instruments caught and analyzed the dust and gas streaming away from the comet. Scientists sought hints about how our solar system came to be—and about the origin of one class of molecules in particular.
” Dynamic Disks A key question is whether these molecules can survive the birth of a solar system. New stars and planets form via the gravitational collapse of gas and dust clouds. Are the primordial organic molecules in those clouds lost in the early days of a new solar system, blasted apart as young stars blaze to life? Only recently did scientists get their first glimpses of organic molecules within protoplanetary disks—the rotating frisbees of gas and dust that spin around newborn stars.
Astroids Comets Organic Molecules Life Origins Space Exploration
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