. 24/7 Space News .
EXO WORLDS
NASA scientists study life origins by simulating a cosmic evolution
by Lonnie Shekhtman for GSFC News
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jan 11, 2023

This image shows a vial with residue left over after Danna Qasim and her team irradiated simulated interstellar ices using a Van de Graaff particle accelerator at NASA Goddard.

Amino acids make up millions of proteins that drive the chemical gears of life, including essential bodily functions in animals. Because of amino acids' relationship to living things scientists are eager to understand the origins of these molecules. After all, amino acids may have helped spawn life on Earth after being delivered here about 4 billion years ago by pieces of asteroids or comets.

But if so, were amino acids produced inside asteroids or comets? Or did life's raw ingredients come intact from the interstellar molecular cloud of ice, gas, and dust that formed our solar system and countless others?

If amino acids formed in our solar system, then life could be unique here. But if they came from an interstellar cloud, these precursors to life could have spread to other solar systems, as well.

Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, sought to explore how amino acids and amines - their chemical cousins - may have formed by simulating a mini, cosmic evolution in the lab. The researchers made ices like those found in interstellar clouds, blasted them with radiation, and then exposed the leftover material, which included amines and amino acids, to water and heat to replicate the conditions they would have experienced inside asteroids.

"The important take-away is that the building blocks of life have a strong link not only to processes in the asteroid, but also to those of the parent interstellar cloud," said Danna Qasim, who worked on this experiment while she was a postdoctoral fellow at NASA Goddard from 2020 to 2022. Qasim now is a research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio and lead author of a study published on January 9 in the journal ACS Earth and Space Chemistry.

For their study, Qasim and her colleagues made ices out of molecules that telescopes have commonly detected in interstellar clouds, such as water, methanol, carbon dioxide and ammonia. Then, using a Van de Graaff particle accelerator at Goddard, they zapped the ices with high-energy protons to mimic the cosmic radiation the ices would have experienced in a molecular cloud. The radiation process broke apart simple molecules. Those molecules recombined into more complex amines and amino acids, such as ethylamine and glycine. The amino acids were left in gooey residues.

"We expect that these residues from the interstellar cloud are transferred to the protoplanetary disk that creates a solar system, including asteroids," Qasim said.

Asteroid simulations came next. By submerging the residues in tubes of water and heating them to different temperatures and for varying durations, scientists replicated the conditions inside some asteroids billions of years ago, called "aqueous alteration." Afterward, they analyzed the effects these warm, watery conditions had on the molecules.

They found that the types of amines and amino acids created in laboratory interstellar ices, and their proportions, stayed constant regardless of asteroid conditions. This implies that amines and amino acids can stay intact as they migrate from the interstellar cloud to an asteroid. But each molecule reacted differently to asteroid-like conditions depending on how much heat the researchers applied and for how long. Glycine levels doubled after 7 days of asteroid simulations, for example, while ethylamine levels barely budged.

Many other scientists have created interstellar ices and plied them with radiation. Like the Goddard team, they've also found that this process creates amines and amino acids. But the set of compounds produced in labs doesn't match the set detected in meteorites. Meteorites are pieces of asteroids and, perhaps, comets that scientists can find on Earth's surface and probe in the lab.

Qasim and her colleagues wanted to investigating this discrepancy, so they designed an experiment - the first one to add asteroid simulations to the ice experiment. The process began with an idea by Christopher Materese, a Goddard research scientist who was principal investigator of this project. Materese wondered whether asteroid conditions were Astrobiology at NASA
between lab-made interstellar ice and meteorite compositions.

"Laboratory experiments focused solely on ice irradiation are not fully capturing the reality of the chemistry experienced by these compounds," Materese said. "So part of the goal of this work was to see if we can close that gap."

The research team has not yet closed the gap. They found that even after simulating asteroid conditions, the amines and amino acids they produced still didn't match those in meteorites.

This could be happening for a variety of reasons. One has to do with possible contamination. Because meteorites fall through Earth's atmosphere and spend some time on the surface before they're scooped up, it's possible that their chemical makeup changes and doesn't perfectly reflect the asteroids they came from. But scientists will be able to address this issue with pristine samples of asteroid Bennu, currently being ferried by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to Earth for a Sept. 24, 2023, delivery to the surface. Scientists also will improve their ice experiments after NASA's James Webb Space Telescope returns detailed information about the types of ices that make up interstellar molecular clouds.

"We are not nearly at the end of this work yet, we still have more to do," Materese said.


Related Links
Astrobiology at NASA
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
What it would take to discover life on Saturn's icy moon Enceladus
Tucson AZ (SPX) Dec 28, 2022
The mystery of whether microbial alien life might inhabit Enceladus, one of Saturn's 83 moons, could be solved by an orbiting space probe, according to a new study led by University of Arizona researchers. In a paper published in The Planetary Science Journal, the researchers map out how a hypothetical space mission could provide definite answers. When Enceladus was initially surveyed in 1980 by NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, it looked like a small, not overly exciting "snowball" in the sky. Later, ... 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
Crop seeds, microbial strains tested in China's two space missions unveiled

Russia to send capsule to rescue crew from ISS

US, Japan sign Space Collaboration Agreement at NASA Headquarters

First steps towards the space station of the future

EXO WORLDS
Vulcan rocket one step closer to launch

NASA selects experimental space technology concepts for initial study

UK space chiefs vows to try again after failed rocket launch

SpaceX to launch 51 Starlink satellites after weather delay

EXO WORLDS
Ingenuity completes the A-Z tour of the Wright Brothers Field at Jezero Crater

Martian meteorite contains large diversity of organic compounds

Pausing to take in the view: Sols 3710-3711

Use the Force, Percy!

EXO WORLDS
China's first private sector 2023 rocket launch up, up and away

First rocket launch of the New Year leaves Wenchang for space

Space contractors release China's launch plans for 2023

China's space exploration spurred by helping humanity

EXO WORLDS
Carrier rockets place four satellites into orbit

SES secures 300M Euro in financing from European Investment Bank

Vast Space becomes the newest member of "Space Beach"

Lynk launches world's 2nd and 3rd commercial Cell-Towers-in-Space

EXO WORLDS
Space junk, not meteorites, remains biggest threat to spacecraft

Momentus to deliver FOSSA Systems satellites to orbit

Spaceflight Inc. and Maritime Launch agree to future Sherpa OTV missions

China launches 3 new satellites

EXO WORLDS
Distant star's dimming was likely a 'dusty' companion getting in the way, astronomers say

NASA wants you to help study planets around other stars

NASA scientists study life origins by simulating a cosmic evolution

TESS discovers planetary system's second Earth-size world

EXO WORLDS
SwRI scientists find evidence for magnetic reconnection between Ganymede and Jupiter

SwRI delivers innovative instrument for NASA's Europa Clipper mission

PSI Io Input/Output observatory discovers large volcanic outburst on Jupiter's moon Io

Mix a space juice to celebrate ESA's Juice mission









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.