Scientists reveal the true origins of Earth's water... it came from space

Every time we open a bottle of water and drink, our body hydrates, our pupils dilate, and life becomes possible. Life on Earth depends on water as its main component. We ourselves are 70% water. But, has there always been water on our planet?

The truth is that water has not always been present on Earth, and we have always sought to know the truth behind its appearance on our planet. Now, after centuries of searching for answers, we seem to have discovered its origin.

Small salt crystals from a sample collected from The asteroid Itokawa by the Hayabusa mission in 2005, which reached Earth in 2010, could only have formed in the presence of liquid water..

Even more interesting, according to the research team at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL), is the fact that the sample came from an S-type asteroid, a class known to mostly lack hydrated minerals.

Earth has water thanks to asteroids

The discovery indicates that the large number of asteroids traversing the solar system may not be as dry as previously thought.

discovery, Published in Nature Astronomy, Advances New support for the hypothesis that most, if not all, of Earth’s water It could have arrived through asteroids During the planet’s turbulent childhood.

This study is the first to prove that salt crystals originated within the asteroid’s main body, ruling out the possibility that it was formed as a result of contamination after the sample arrived on Earth. This addresses a question that has plagued previous studies that found NaCl in meteorites of similar origin.

“The grains look exactly like what you would see if you took table salt at home and put it under an electron microscope,” Tom Zyga, lead author of the study and professor of planetary sciences at LPL, said in a statement.

According to Zyga, the samples represent a type of extraterrestrial rock known as an ordinary chondrite. It is derived from the so-called S-type asteroids, such as Itokawa, and this type accounts for approximately 87% of the meteorites. collected on the floor.

The sample used in the study is a tiny dust particle measuring about 150 micrometersor roughly twice the diameter of a human hair, from which the team cut a tiny section about 5 micrometers wide, large enough to cover a single yeast cell, for analysis.