. 24/7 Space News .
EXO WORLDS
NASA study finds sugars, key ingredient for life, can form in space
by Staff Writers
Washington DC (Sputnik) Dec 21, 2018

illustration only

A new study by NASA scientists has proven that sugar molecules - one of the building blocks of life - can form in conditions similar to those in outer space. The find provides further grist to the mill of the argument that life on Earth got some sort of help from above in its formation.

A new paper published on Tuesday by scientists from the National Atmospheric and Space Administration's (NASA) Ames Research Center in the journal Nature Communications proves that a sugar molecule key to the formation of life can form in the extremely cold and radiation-rich conditions of outer space.

The scientists recreated the conditions of space by cooling aluminum substrate to -440 degrees Fahrenheit, close to absolute zero, and placing it in a vacuum chamber, into which they pumped a mixture of water and methanol gas, similar to that found in the interstellar medium. They then bathed the sample in ultraviolet light to simulate stellar radiation.

At first, ice built up on the sample, but the UV light melted it. But what scientists found after was the real prize: a small amount of 2-deoxyribose - the "D" in "DNA" - had formed, along with several other kinds of sugar molecules, on the surface of the aluminum substrate.

"For more than two decades we've asked ourselves if the chemistry we find in space can make the kinds of compounds essential to life. So far, we haven't picked a single broad set of molecules that can't be produced," said Scott Sandford, a senior scientist in the Ames astrochemistry lab and an author on the new paper.

"The universe is an organic chemist," said Sandford. "It has big beakers and lots of time - and the result is a lot of organic material, some of which is useful to life."

The scientists then went looking for those sugar compounds in samples from carbonaceous meteorites. While they didn't find 2-deoxyribose in their samples, they did find other sugars, meaning that with a large sample size, they could find the elusive key ingredient for life.

The find only further encourages the theory that life on Earth either got help from an interstellar object plummeting down to the planet, delivering some key chemicals, or was transported wholesale from another world, blasted off by an impact and then unwittingly winding up here.

In late October, a trio of Harvard scientists - including one who's attracted no shortage of ire as of late for suggesting the interstellar object 'Oumuamua might be a spacecraft - published a paper describing how life might have been transplanted here by a process called panspermia, even across interstellar distances.

The basic idea of panspermia is that an impactor, like a comet or asteroid, crashes into world where life exists, blasting pieces of rock into space that carry the microbes and organic material to some other planet, where they eventually crash down when their rock becomes a meteor. If they survive, the microbes colonize the new world.

While it's somewhat accepted that panspermia could transplant life from, say, Mars to Earth, life traveling longer distances across the unprotected interstellar medium seems less likely. Ames scientists took issue with the Harvard scientists' suggestion, criticizing it as improbable that the process could work between solar systems.

"If the journey took millions of years, then that life would die, and it doesn't matter if it is Earth life or non-Earth life," Rocco Mancinelli, a senior research scientist at the Ames Research Center, told NBC at the time. "Why? Because it would be destroyed by cosmic radiation. And even if it could survive that, the radiation given off by the mineral in the rock itself would destroy it."

Meanwhile, the US space agency's OSIRIS-REx [Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer] spacecraft just arrived at the asteroid Bennu earlier this month, an odd rock that NASA scientists think might give them an idea of what the conditions of early Earth were like. OSIRIS-REx will collect samples from Bennu's surface and ship them to Earth after measuring the asteroid to see if it poses a threat to the planet. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory gives the 110-mile-wide asteroid a cumulative 1-in-2,700 chance of impacting Earth between the years 2175 and 2199.

On December 10, NASA announced OSIRIS-REx had found evidence of water clay on Bennu.

"Data obtained from the spacecraft's two spectrometers... reveal the presence of molecules that contain oxygen and hydrogen atoms bonded together, known as 'hydroxyls,'" the space agency said in a press release, Sputnik reported. "The [NASA] team suspects that these hydroxyl groups exist globally across the asteroid in water-bearing clay minerals, meaning that at some point, Bennu's rocky material interacted with water."

Source: Sputnik News


Related Links
Science Article
Lands Beyond Beyond - extra solar planets - news and science
Life Beyond Earth


Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly


paypal only
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal


EXO WORLDS
Narrowing the universe in the search for life
Columbus OH (SPX) Dec 18, 2018
Humankind's exploration of space has for years pondered one central question: Is there another world somewhere in the universe where human beings could survive? And as astrophysicists and astronomers have searched for the answer, they've traditionally looked for a world that has water. But Wendy Panero, professor of earth sciences at The Ohio State University, has developed a new way of thinking about a planet's habitability. What if, she wondered, the answer to habitability lies within the ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

EXO WORLDS
Roscosmos Chief Could Visit US in Early 2019, NASA Working on Sanctions Waiver

Russian Cosmonaut Dismisses Rumours About ISS Crew, Hole in Soyuz Spaceship

Investigators to Question Russia Cosmonauts Amid ISS 'Hole' Probe

NASA astronaut, crewmates return to Earth after 197-Day mission in space

EXO WORLDS
Arianespace supports Drance and European defense with launch of CSO-1

SpaceX blasts off powerful GPS satellite for US military

Russia to Complete Flight Tests of Soyuz-2.1V Carrier Rocket in 2019 - Source

Roscosmos selects super-heavy rocket concept designed for lunar flights

EXO WORLDS
InSight places its first instrument on Mars

InSight Engineers Have Made a Martian Rock Garden

Opportunity team performs more frequent communication attempts throughout each day

Planetary scientists assist in capturing image of Insight from orbit

EXO WORLDS
China launches first Hongyun project satellite

China's Chang'e-4 probe enters lunar orbit

China launches rover for first far side of the moon landing

Evolving Chinese Space Ecosystem To Foster Innovative Environment

EXO WORLDS
ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst returns to Earth for the second time

Year of many new beginnings for Indian space sector

Scaled back OneWeb constellation Not to affect number of Soyuz boosters

Spacecraft Repo Operations

EXO WORLDS
Finding ways to protect crews from the effects of space radiation

NASA industry team creates and demonstrates first quantum sensor for satellite gravimetry

Raytheon awarded $114M for AN/SPY-6V radar integration, production

Celestia wins major ESA contract for UK

EXO WORLDS
Narrowing the universe in the search for life

A young star caught forming like a planet

Planets with Oxygen Don't Necessarily Have Life

Where did the hot Neptunes go

EXO WORLDS
NASA spacecraft hurtles toward historic New Year's flyby

Teledyne e2v has provided New Horizons with two specialist image sensors

New Horizons Notebook: On Ultima's Doorstep

Ultima Thule's First Mystery: Lack of a 'Light Curve'









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.