Nasa Studies Find Amino Acids and More in Meteor Fragments

Some believe that Nasa is publicity oriented with the motivation of continued funding. Yet, the fascination remains. An asteroid that crashed in the Nubian Desert in October 2008 is a current source of attention, because of amino acids found inexplicably intact.

A selection from ten different types of meteorites contained similar evidence of a type of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Both amino acids and PAH are considered building blocks of life on earth.

The Nasa sponsored Catalina Sky Survey detected the thirteen foot asteroid. Joined by astronomers and scientists throughout the world, this type of discovery was a first. Before this time, the detection of asteroid evidence was only after the fact of entry into Earth's orbit.

Viewing the movement through a grid led to the subsequent exploration and recovery.

It begins to make good material for a sci fi movie at this point.

Students from the University of Khartoum are ranging around the Nubian Desert looking for remnants of the estimated 59 ton meteorite. After spending days and weeks searching, 150 students find 23 pounds of fragments.

At the get go, the colors and variety in the texture of the remnants of a violent series of crashes became an eye-opener.

Visualize the scientists in a lab at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. Then imagine the fragments revealing something that shouldn't have been there.

Heated through its entry into Earth's atmosphere, the asteroid preserved two of the same building blocks that account for life on Earth, creating fodder for more studies and an exciting inherent mystery.

The scientists compare notes. They discover that the compositions of the pieces of the meteor are quite rare. Only .001 percent of most known meteorites contain what this one has. These are called urelites.

Formed immediately from trapped gases, the asteroid cooled following a giant collision in outer space. After a series of collisions, sand-grain sized pieces gathered into a void space in a loose arrangement.

Though the majority of arrangements in the composition are ureilites, excitement about the first freshly fallen mix of polymict ureilite yields a theory. All are from the same parent body that collided in space possibly 4.5 billion years ago.

Forming into metallic iron, olivene and pyroxene remained intact because it didn't melt. The oxygen atoms stayed in their original form as a consequence.

Then, amino acids came about at the end of a series of explosions.

Now, on with mystery.

Did we humanoids ultimately evolve from singular grain like composites as a result of multiple explosions? What happens to the undiscovered meteorites with signs of human life molecules? Does the science fiction story go on to a tiny amoeba exiting from a bluish green rock that fell somewhere near a desert oasis?

Surveys show that forty percent of earthling people believe that life exists outside of what we know. It appears that the latest Nasa combined study of asteroids and meteors may eventually confirm what many people already suspect.

ref
Nasa.gov