Origin of precursors of organic molecules during evaporation of meteorites and mafic terrestrial rocks

Mukhin, L. M.; Герасимов, М. В.; Safonova, E. N.

doi:10.1038/340046a0

Cited by 77 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…However, there is no atmosphere on Europa, and interplanetary dust particles or small meteorites hit the surface at very high velocities leading to their total destruction. Therefore, the mechanism, which might deliver the prebiotic organics to early Earth (Mukhin et al, 1989;Chyba and Sagan, 1992), or possibly inseminated Mars (Mileikowsky et al, 2000), would hardly work on Europa.…”

Section: Habitability Of Europa: Alien Life?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Europa Lander Mission: A Challenge to Find Traces of Alien Life

Zelenyǐ¹,

Korablev

Vorobyova³

et al. 2010

Proc. IAU

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Abstract. An international effort dedicated to science exploration of Jupiter system planned by ESA and NASA in the beginning of next decade includes in-depth science investigation of Europa. In parallel to EJSM (Europa-Jupiter System Mission) Russian Space Agency and the academy of Science plan Laplace-Europa Lander mission, which will include the small telecommunication and science orbiter and the surface element: Europa Lander. In-situ methods on the lander provide the only direct possibility to assess environmental conditions, and to perform the search for signatures of life. A critical advantage of such in situ analysis is the possibility to enhance concentration and detection limits and to provide ground truth for orbital measurements. The science mission of the lander is biological, geophysical, chemical, and environmental characterizations of the Europa surface. Remote investigations from the orbit around Europa would not be sufficient to address fully the astrobiology, geodesy, and geology goals. The science objectives of the planned mission, the synergy between the Europa Lander and EJSM mission elements, and a brief description of the Laplace-Europa Lander mission are presented.

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Section: Habitability Of Europa: Alien Life?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Europa Lander Mission: A Challenge to Find Traces of Alien Life

Zelenyǐ¹,

Korablev

Vorobyova³

et al. 2010

Proc. IAU

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“…Laser pulse vaporization experiments on terrestrial rocks and chondrites by Mukhin et al (1989) show that the gas products in vapor plumes are composed mainly of oxidized species, such as CO and CO 2 , with small amounts of reduced species, such as hydrocarbons, HCN, and aldehydes. They proposed that this is because oxygen derived from thermal decomposition of silicates oxidized carbon.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many chemical species are produced within impact vapor plumes and are released into the atmosphere of planets. These species may have played an important role in planetary climates and abiotic synthesis of organic materials (e.g., Fegley et al, 1986;Mukhin et al, 1989;Kasting, 1990;Chyba and Sagan, 1992;Kress and McKay, 2004). Thus, it is important to understand the molecular composition of products within impact-induced vapor plumes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, silicate-derived oxygen might recombine back to silicates and not to CO or CO 2 , as mentioned above. Since Mukhin et al (1989) used complex natural samples (terrestrial rocks and chondrites), it is difficult to specify what reactions occur. Furthermore, since oxygen might be contained in the form of volatile components, such as water, carbonates and sulfates, the effect of oxidization by silicatederived oxygen cannot be separated from that by volatilederived oxygen.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In both experiments and thermodynamic calculations, we consider reaction systems consisting of silica (SiO 2 ) and polyethylene (PE). First, we conduct LPV experiments, which have been used to simulate impact vaporization (e.g., Mukhin et al, 1989;Kadono et al, 2002;Managadze et al, 2003;Sugita et al, 2003;Ohno et al, 2004) and measure whether CO and/or CO 2 are produced in even carbon-poor reaction systems. We use artificial samples, mixtures of silica powder and polyethylene powder, for investigating the effect of silica-derived oxygen.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Oxidation of carbon compounds by silica-derived oxygen within impact-induced vapor plumes

et al. 2013

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Impact-induced vapor plumes produce a variety of chemical species, which may play an important role in the evolution of planetary surface environments. In most previous theoretical studies on chemical reactions within impact-induced vapor plumes, only volatile components are considered. Chemical reactions between silicates and volatile components have been neglected. In particular, silica (SiO 2 ) is important because it is the dominant component of silicates. Reactions between silica and carbon under static and carbon-rich "metallurgic" conditions (C/SiO 2 1) are known to occur to produce CO and SiC. Actual impact vapor plumes, however, cool dynamically and have carbon-poor "meteoritic" composition (C/SiO 2 1). Reactions under such conditions have not been investigated, and final products in such reaction systems are not known well. Although CO and SiO are thermodynamically stable at high temperatures under carbon-poor conditions, C and SiO 2 are stable at low temperatures. Thus, CO may not be able to survive the rapidly cooling process of vapor plumes. In this study, we conduct laser pulse vaporization (LPV) experiments and thermodynamic calculations to examine whether interactions between carbon and silica occur in rapidly cooling vapor plumes with meteoritic chemical compositions. The experimental results indicate that even in rapidly cooling vapor plumes with meteoritic compounds are rather efficiently oxidized by silica-derived oxygen and that substantial amounts of both CO 2 and CO are produced. The calculation results also suggest that those oxidation reactions seen in LPV experiments might occur in planetary-scale vapor plumes regardless of impact velocity as long as silicates vaporize.

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Shock wave synthesis of amino acids from solutions of ammonium formate and ammonium bicarbonate

Suzuki

Furukawa

Kobayashi

et al. 2015

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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The emergence of life's building blocks, such as amino acids and nucleobases, on the prebiotic Earth was a critical step for the beginning of life. Reduced species with low mass, such as ammonia, amines, or carboxylic acids, are potential precursors for these building blocks of life. These precursors may have been provided to the prebiotic ocean by carbonaceous chondrites and chemical reactions related to meteorite impacts on the early Earth. The impact of extraterrestrial objects on Earth occurred more frequently during this period than at present. Such impacts generated shock waves in the ocean, which have the potential to progress chemical reactions to form the building blocks of life from reduced species. To simulate shock-induced reactions in the prebiotic ocean, we conducted shock-recovery experiments on ammonium bicarbonate solution and ammonium formate solution at impact velocities ranging from 0.51 to 0.92 km/s. In the products from the ammonium formate solution, several amino acids (glycine, alanine, ß-alanine, and sarcosine) and aliphatic amines (methylamine, ethylamine, propylamine, and butylamine) were detected, although yields were less than 0.1 mol % of the formic acid reactant. From the ammonium bicarbonate solution, smaller amounts of glycine, methylamine, ethylamine, and propylamine were formed. The impact velocities used in this study represent minimum cases because natural meteorite impacts typically have higher velocities and longer durations. Our results therefore suggest that shock waves could have been involved in forming life's building blocks in the ocean of prebiotic Earth, and potentially in aquifers of other planets, satellites, and asteroids.

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Origin of precursors of organic molecules during evaporation of meteorites and mafic terrestrial rocks

Cited by 77 publications

References 5 publications

Europa Lander Mission: A Challenge to Find Traces of Alien Life

Europa Lander Mission: A Challenge to Find Traces of Alien Life

Oxidation of carbon compounds by silica-derived oxygen within impact-induced vapor plumes

Shock wave synthesis of amino acids from solutions of ammonium formate and ammonium bicarbonate

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