seduce another point for exogenesis , the approximation that biography on Earth has extraterrestrial origins . For the first metre , NASA has identified amino dot in a sample of material from a comet , suggesting a comet may have bring protein to Earth .
In 2004 , the NASA ballistic capsule Stardust captured particle shed by the Wild 2 , an icy comet in our Solar System . Last twelvemonth , the team examining the Wild 2 sample discovered it contained several aminic acids as well as nitrogen - bearing amines . At the fourth dimension , the squad was ineffectual to prevail out taint from Earth as a possible root of the amino group acids . But after conscientious tests , they were able to determine that at least one of the amino acid , glycine , came from the comet itself .
Although discoveries like this by no means prove that liveliness on Earth originated with a comet get aminic acid into our ambience , the Stardust team is excited by the implications it has for finally excuse the extraction of life on Earth . And , combined with the late discovery that some comets contain liquid water , it seems possible that comets strikes could bring the building auction block of life-time to a planet ’s open . The next gradation is to obtain larger sample from comets , and samples from the comet ’s nucleus instead of its debris . Fortunately , the ESA’a Rosetta spacecraft is scheduled to land on the comet 67P / Churyumov - Gerasimenko in 2014 , and will hopefully bring back just the kind of sample the Stardust team is hanker for .

[ New Scientist ]
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