Fed2 Star - the newsletter for the space trading game Federation 2

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by ibgames

EARTHDATE: June 12, 2016

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REAL LIFE NEWS: IS THERE LIFE ON COMET 67P?

by Hazed

It’s a fair bet that if a newspaper headline consists of a question, the answer is going to be “no” and that holds in this case. No, there is no life on the comet. Sorry about that. However, there are ingredients that are regarded as crucial to life on Earth, which is a big deal.

For many years, scientists have been debating the origin of the organic molecules that were used to spark life on Earth. One theory was that the water and chemicals were brought to the young Earth by asteroids and comets, being deposited after it cooled following its formation.

Now the results of Rosetta’s investigation of comet 67P show amino acid glycine, which is commonly found in proteins, and phosphorus, a key component of DNA and cell membranes. The substances were detected in the comet’s fuzzy atmosphere, or ‘coma’.

In a paper published recently, one of the authors, HervĂ© Cottin, explained why this is exciting. “There is still a lot of uncertainty regarding the chemistry on early Earth and there is of course a huge evolutionary gap to fill between the delivery of these ingredients via cometary impacts and life taking hold,” he said. “But the important point is that comets have not really changed in 4.5 billion years: they grant us direct access to some of the ingredients that likely ended up in the prebiotic soup that eventually resulted in the origin of life on Earth.”

Source: http://sci.esa.int/rosetta/57858-rosettas-comet-contains-ingredients-for-life/

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