Revealed! The Mystery of the Origin of Water on Earth, Not as Imagined So Far

Revealed! The Mystery of the Origin of Water on Earth, Not as Imagined all this Time

Dream - Currently, there are more than 1,000 trillion liters of water on Earth, most of which is the ocean that covers over 70 percent of its surface. So it's not surprising that our Earth is known as the 'Blue Planet'.

Revealed! The Mystery of the Origin of Water on Earth, Not as Imagined So Far

Not only that, we as humans are mostly composed of water. Our bodies need water regularly to function. Research even suggests that humans may have originated from water before evolving into the dominant land mammals on Earth. So where does water come from in the entire universe, in our solar system, and how does it reach our planet? These questions are indeed difficult to answer, but planetary science has made rapid progress in providing solutions regarding the origins of water.

"How is Water Formed"

To answer that question, first we need to know how water is formed in this Solar System.

The following is the translation of the given 'Bahasa' text to 'English' while preserving any html tags: "Molecules of water are formed in the space between stars through chemical reactions between hydrogen molecules and molecules containing oxygen such as carbon monoxide. The Solar System inherited its water from interstellar grains coated with ice in dusty clouds where the Sun and planets formed 4.6 billion years ago."

Trapped in Asteroids and Comets

"In the Solar System, the water is trapped in two main forms. When far from the Sun, where the temperature is very low, water forms icy objects like comets. When these icy interstellar grains are closer to the Sun, the water content within them reacts with rocky materials to form hydrated minerals."

It is estimated that the most likely way Earth inherited its water is from asteroids and comets that collided with it billions of years ago. Most of this water would have initially been added to the growing Earth's mantle during its formation and later released from within by volcanic activity.

"Proof of Water from Outer Space?"

The inner part of the Solar System used to be a place full of turmoil. Around 4.0 to 3.8 billion years ago, the orbits of the outer planets underwent a shift.

he translation of the given 'Bahasa' text to 'English' while preserving any html tags is as follows: The gravity disturbances sent their space ice rocks soaring through the inner Solar System, in an event known as the Late Heavy Bombardment Theory. Many of these objects hit the Earth and may have brought water here. This indicates that asteroids and meteorites are the reason why Earth has water

Hayabusa Mission

"In 2019, the Hayabusa space exploration mission strengthened the theory that water on Earth originated from asteroids. This mission, conducted by the Japanese space agency JAXA, revealed that asteroids play a significant role in the study, as reported in Science Advances. The Hayabusa spacecraft successfully brought back particles from the surface of an asteroid named 25143 Itokawa."

By shooting ions at the samples brought by Hayabusa, scientists have successfully analyzed the presence of water in two of the surface grains of Itokawa. The analysis of the samples indicates that the water trapped in the asteroid rocks matches the type of water found in Earth's oceans.

The composition is suitable for a type of meteorite called CI chondrites, which can contribute 30% of the total mass of water in Earth's oceans.

Supported by NASA Mission

Apart from that, the OSIRIS-REx NASA spacecraft will bring samples of the Bennu asteroid to Earth in September 2023. Initial analysis of the samples found the presence of water and organic compounds, which is another indication that asteroids may be a source of most of the water on Earth.

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