But other astrobiologists have countered that when a comet strikes the Earth, the fiery explosion might obliterate any organic compounds present.
Comets leave in their wake trails of rocky material, the source of annual meteor showers on Earth. As the rocks burn up in Earth's atmosphere, wouldn't the intense heat destroy any organics within the rocks?
Apparently not. So says NASA astrobiologist Peter Jenniskens. Last year, Jenniskens and his team of researchers observed the Leonids meteor shower from aboard aircraft. Now Jenniskens has announced that much of the organic material in the rocks appears to have survived entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Life's components might indeed have come from space.
Dec 17, 2002 | SCIENCE
Researchers Find Possible Precursors to Early Life on Earth in Meteorite
(NASA) - Meteorites may have delivered the cell membranes for the earliest life on Earth.
Nov 14, 2002 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS
NASA Prepares for 'Last Chance' Meteor Shower
(NASA) - NASA astrobiologist Dr. Peter Jenniskens takes to the air in his fourth and final airborne mission to study the Leonid meteor shower.
Oct 22, 2002 | MISSIONS
NASA Researchers Seek Astrobiology Insights on the Leonid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign
(NASA Astrobiology Institute) - A pair of aircraft will take to the sky to observe the Leonid meteor shower.
Oct 11, 2002 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS
Boost for Life on Jupiter Moon
(BBC) - New observations made by the Galileo spacecraft may strengthen the argument for life on Europa.
Sep 26, 2002 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS
ESA to Search for Life, but not as We Know It
(ESA) - Scientists consider what the European Space AgencyÂs Huygens mission to Titan and Venus Express mission could uncover.
Sep 18, 2002 | SCIENCE
Planet Building Volcanoes No Longer Rule, but They Still Rage
(Space.com) - Volcanoes play an important role in the processes of life.
Sep 09, 2002 | MISSIONS
NASA Airborne Observatory's Telescope Assembly Arrives
(NASA) - SOFIA will use the infrared telescope to study organics in space and dust disks where planets form.
Sep 03, 2002 | MISSIONS
Stardust Spacecraft Reaches for Cosmic Dust
(NASA) - NASAÂs Stardust spacecraft recently began collecting samples of interstellar dust grains, to be returned to Earth in 2006.
Aug 30, 2002 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS
NASA Researchers Find Wind Blows in TitanÂs Organic Haze
(NASA) - A new model of Titan's atmosphere describes how organic particles form and circulate.
Jul 12, 2002 |
Bioastronomy 2002: Scientists Look for Life
(Space.com) - Over 200 researchers are meeting near Australia's Great Barrier Reef to discuss the potential for life elsewhere in the universe.
May 09, 2002 | SCIENCE
Identifying 'Unidentified Infrared Bands' in Space
(UniSci) - A new technique helps confirm an earlier discovery of organic molecules in space
Apr 26, 2002 | SCIENCE
Antifreeze Discovered in Space
(National Radio Astronomy Observatory) - The compound is also involved the formation of sugar molecules necessary for life.
Apr 23, 2002 | MISSIONS, TECHNOLOGIES
Astrobiology Explorer Chosen for Feasibility Study
(NASA) - The proposed space telescope will look for the building blocks of life in interstellar space.
Mar 27, 2002 | SCIENCE
NASA Scientists Create Amino Acids in Deep-Space-Like Environment
(NASA) - The discovery suggests that the building blocks of life may have come from space, and may be commonplace in the universe.
Feb 15, 2002 | MISSIONS, TECHNOLOGIES
Taking to the Air on Saturn's Moon Titan
(Space.com) - Smoggy Titan may one day be explored by blimp.
Jan 25, 2002 | MISSIONS
Stardust on Course for Comet Encounter
(NASA) - NASA's Stardust spacecraft has adjusted its path in preparation for encountering Comet Wild 2 in 2004.
Jan 03, 2002 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS, TECHNOLOGIES
Kevlar vs. Comets: Bullet-Proof Craft to Get Closest Comet Views Ever
(Space.com) - NASA's CONTOUR spacecraft will be pelted by high-velocity particles as it swoops in for close-up views of comets.
Dec 20, 2001 | SCIENCE
Sugar Detected in Meteorites
(NASA) - The finding is additional evidence that life's building blocks may have fallen to Earth from space.
Nov 06, 2001 | SCIENCE
Hydrothermal Vents: Life's First Home?
(NASA Astrobiology Institute) - The discovery of vent life in early 1977 began a dramatic shift in the study of the origin of life
Nov 02, 2001 | SCIENCE
Scientists Toast the Discovery of Vinyl Alcohol in Interstellar Space
(Space Daily) - Astronomers have detected vinyl alcohol, a complex organic compound, in a cloud of interstellar gas and dust.
Oct 22, 2001 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS
Titan: Biological Birthplace?
(NASA Astrobiology Institute) - SaturnÂs giant moon Titan, cloaked in a thick nitrogen atmosphere laced with hydrocarbons, could provide a laboratory in the sky for scientists seeking insight into the origins of life.
Oct 17, 2001 | SCIENCE
Carbonaceous Clues to the Early Solar System
(NASA Astrobiology Institute) - A meteorite that fell onto a frozen lake in Canada last January may have much to tell us about the organic compounds that gave rise to life on Earth.
Jul 23, 2001 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS
Images Show Jovian Polar Thunderstorms
(Space.com) - New images of JupiterÂs weather indicate that storms at the planetÂs poles, once thought to be chaotic, actually move about in stable patterns.
Jun 25, 2001 | MISSIONS, TECHNOLOGIES
Rosetta: a Spacecraft in Search of Pristine Matter
(Spaceflight Now) - The mission will get a close-up view of a comet's nucleus.
May 25, 2001 | SCIENCE
A Taste for Comet Water
(NASA Astrobiology Institute) - New evidence suggests that comets provided the water that fills the Earth's oceans.
May 16, 2001 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS
What Is Saturn's Moon Titan Really Made Of?
(Spaceflight Now/ESA) - New images of Titan bolster the idea that an ocean of liquid organic compounds exists on its surface.
Apr 20, 2001 | SCIENCE
Was Johnny Appleseed a Comet?
(NASA Astrobiology Institute) - A new experiment suggests that comet impacts could have sowed the seeds of life on Earth billions of years ago.
Jan 30, 2001 | SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGIES
Scientists Find Clues That Life Began in Deep Space
(NASA Astrobiology Institute) - Duplicating the harsh conditions of space in their laboratory, NASA scientists have created primitive cells with membrane-like structures.
Oct 18, 2000 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS
Liquid methane rain on Titan
(BBC) - Scientists have found evidence that methane in the atmosphere of Titan condenses into liquid and rains down on the surface.
Oct 12, 2000 | SCIENCE
Meteorite may hold clues to life
(CNN) - Shards from a spectacular meteor are rich with organic molecules.
Aug 16, 2000 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS
Possible ice mountains seen on Titan
(Spaceflight Now/University of Arizona) - A bright spot on this moon of Saturn may be mountains of water ice drenched in a rain of liquid methane.
Jun 16, 2000 | SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGIES
Scientists discover sugar molecules in space
(space.com) - The building blocks of life may be common throughout the universe.
May 03, 2000 | SCIENCE
Meteor shower this week
(Science@NASA) - The best viewing will be in the predawn hours Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
Apr 29, 2000 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS, TECHNOLOGIES
Organic molecules detected in interstellar dust
(Spaceflight Now/Max Planck Institute) - The Stardust space probe has collected particles of interstellar dust containing tar-like organic molecules. The particles were captured using a unique material called aerogel.
Apr 18, 2000 | SCIENCE
Watch the sky: Lyrids meteors shower
(Science@NASA) - The Lyrids meteor shower peaks on the morning of April 22.
Jan 22, 2000 | SCIENCE
Instellar clouds may produce a component of DNA
(New Scientist) - Researchers claim that interstellar clouds produce adenine. Their findings suggest that the raw materials of life may be common in other planetary systems.
Jan 20, 2000 | TECHNOLOGIES
New window opens in the search for interstellar molecules
(UniSci) - Telescopes will now be able to detect interstellar molecules by looking in a virtually unexplored region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Jan 12, 2000 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS
Organic molecules in space found
(Yahoo!/AP) - Complex organic molecules are the raw materials of life. The findings suggest that these compounds might be available throughout the universe for the formation of life.
Jan 03, 2000 | SCIENCE
First meteor shower of 2000
(Science@NASA) - Stay up late (or get up early) and see the Quadrantids meteor shower.
Dec 15, 1999 | SCIENCE
Geminids meteor shower dazzles North America
(Science@NASA) - The 1999 Geminids dazzled observers in North
America, making up for a weak display of Leonids there one month earlier.
Aug 29, 1999 | SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGIES
Radar examines asteroid
(NASA) - Radar telescopes have created the most detailed images of an asteroid in a near-Earth orbit.
Aug 20, 1999 | SCIENCE
Amino acids in Martian meteorite may be terrestrial contamination
(SpaceViews) - The findings call into question evidence of life found in another Mars meteorite.
Jul 29, 1999 | SCIENCE
Ocean of hydrocarbons on Titan
(BBC) - New images freveal an ocean of liquid methane or ethane on Titan, a moon of Saturn.
