meteorite

Mars: Organic compounds were made by water interacting with rocks

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Molecules containing carbon atoms, called organics, have been found all over Mars and could hypothetically have been formed by living organisms, but it seems they were not Space 13 January 2022 By Leah Crane The Allan Hills 84001 meteorite NASA/JSC/Stanford University Organic compounds – those containing carbon atoms – found all over Mars were produced … Read more

Infamous Mars meteorite contains organic molecules, but they aren’t proof of life

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Organic molecules found in a Mars meteorite that crash-landed on Earth are not signs of life, but instead formed in chemical reactions between water and rock on the Red Planet about 4 billion years ago, a new study finds. These findings could shed light on the origins of the building blocks of life on early … Read more

We Finally Have The First-Ever Analysis of Stardust Retrieved From The Ryugu Asteroid

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It’s been over a year since the Hayabusa2 probe delivered its precious cargo of dust from an alien space rock, and we’re finally getting a more detailed glimpse of what makes up asteroid Ryugu.   In two papers published today, international teams of scientists have revealed that, in accordance with analyses conducted by the probe … Read more

It’s Not Actually Size That Determines How Deadly a Meteor Is

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We have a lot to thank meteorites for. Had they not instigated several mass extinction events, including wiping out non-avian dinosaurs, we probably wouldn’t be here today. But some things still don’t add up about the massive scale of decimation they can cause.   “For decades scientists have puzzled over why some meteorites cause mass … Read more

SpaceX’s all-civilian Inspiration4 astronaut crew flew a meteorite back to space (briefly)

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After spending 50,000 years on Earth, a meteorite got the chance to visit space again for almost three days, during the all-civilian Inspiration4 mission in September. Pilot Sian Proctor shared a video on Twitter Friday (Dec. 10) showing a fragment of the immense Canyon Diablo space rock that slammed into northern Arizona, forming Barringer Crater (better … Read more