Water from comets

However, the origin of the water on Mars is still unknown. Since the Earth and Mars have some common features in their history, the water on Mars could have come both from its interior and from comets and asteroids. The huge size of the Martian shield volcanoes, one class of which resembles the shield volcanoes Kilauea and Mauna Kea on Hawaii, suggests that a large proportion of the water was of volcanic origin. 

Comets are rich in volatile elements, but they probably delivered no more than 10% of Earth s volatile inventory. There are several reasons for this. Comets have a very low impact probability with Earth over their dynamical lifetime ( 10 Levison et al., 2000), limiting the amount of cometary material that Earth could have accreted. In addition, if most of Earth s water was acquired from comets, it seems likely that Earth s noble gas abundances would be higher than observed by several orders of magnitude (Zahnle, 1998). Einally, water measured spectroscopically in comets differs isotopically from that of seawater on Earth, with the cometary D/H ratio being greater by a factor of 2 (Lunine et al., 2000). 

To date, there exists very little quantitative information concerning oxygen isotope compositions in major solar system reservoirs that is obtained by remote (spectroscopic) observation or spacecraft measurements. A measurement of water ice from comet P/Halley, made by the Giotto mission, yields = 12 75 %o (Balsiger et al. 1995 Eberhardt et al. 1995) but no measurement of is available. Precise data are obtained for the Moon, of course, from returned Apollo samples, and the oxygen isotope composition of Mars and the largest asteroid, Vesta, may be inferred from laboratory... 

Fig. 11 Typical mixture region expansion behavior In the under water thermite billet tests (data taken from COMET 1-26).

Ground based detection of gaseous water in the coma of comet Halley was reported by Knacke et al., 1986 [185]. They observed at 1.4 and 1.9 pm and derived a mass loss rate from the intensities observed of 2 x 10 molecules/s. The detection of water group ions from comet Halley by means of Sakigake was described by Oyama and Abe, 1990 [257]. During the impact of Shoemaker Levy on Jupiter, water was detected in the resulting fireball of the fragments G and K (Bjoraker et al., 1994 [31] and 1996 [32]). 

Eucrites are achondritic stony meteorites that originate from the surface of the asteroid 4 Vesta. Die meteorite Serra de Mag6, an eucrite, contains quartz veinlets. They are identical to crack-seaT quartz veinlets in terrestrial rocks, and are extraterrestrial and ancient because they pre-date a 4.40 Ga metamorphism. The quartz was likely deposited from liquid water solutions (as are terrestrial veins). Because there is no indication of internal (magmatic) water in the eucrite meteorites and thus in Vesta, the water from which the veinlet was deposited probably came from outside Vesta. By analogy with water ice deposits on the Moon and Mercury, Vesta and similar asteroids may have had (or now have) polar ice deposits, possibly remainders from comet impacts (Treiman et al., 2004 [339]). 

Oyama, K., Abe, T. Detection of water group ions from Comet Halley by means of Sakigake. In Comet HaUey. Investigations, Results, Interpretations, vol. 1, pp. 169-180 (1990)... 

Figure 11.26 shows a component removed from an air-conditioning compressor. Pinhole perforations in this component had allowed cooling water to leak into the freon. Many failures of this type had occurred previously. Examinations of the internal surfaces of both the canister and the tubes entering it revealed evidence of metal loss. Tiny perforations at the bases of deep grooves were noted in the tubes. Deep, general, smooth metal loss surrounded irregular islands of intact surface (Fig. 11.27). The canister walls displayed a similar metal loss and comet-tail-shaped depressions (Fig. 11.2).

Water can be found, in all three aggregate states, almost everywhere in the universe as ice in the liquid phase on the satellites of the outer solar system, including Saturn s rings and in the gaseous state in the atmospheres of Venus, Mars and Jupiter and in comets (as can be shown, for example, from the IR spectra of Halley s comet). The OH radical has been known for many years as the photodissociation product of water. 

The second important source for the hydrosphere and the oceans are asteroids and comets. Estimating the amount of water which was brought to Earth from outer space is not easy. Until 20 years ago, it was believed that the only source of water for the hydrosphere was gas emission from volcanoes. The amount of water involved was, however, unknown (Rubey, 1964). First estimates of the enormous magnitude of the bombardment to which the Earth and the other planets were subjected caused researchers to look more closely at the comets and asteroids. New hypotheses on the possible sources of water in the hydrosphere now exist the astronomer A. H. Delsemme from the University of Toledo, Ohio, considers it likely that the primeval Earth was formed from material in a dust cloud containing anhydrous silicate. If this is correct, all the water in today s oceans must be of exogenic origin (Delsemme, 1992). 

Fig. 2.7 The distribution of the ratio of the two hydrogen isotopes (D/H) in carbonaceous meteorites compared with that on Earth and in the comets. According to this distribution, most of the water on Earth must have had its origin in meteorites. From Robert (2001)...

The mass of Halley s Comet is about 1014kg, and thus its mean density is only 200 kg/m3. The rate of loss of material has been estimated as 5,000 kg/s. The nucleus is loosely packed and exhibits point craters and chasms from which gas and dust escape. These emissions consist mainly of water vapour (—80% by volume) as well as 6% CO, < 3% C02, -2.5% CH4, -1.2% NH3 and < 6% N2 (Flechtig and Keller, 1987). At the point where Giotto came nearest to the comet, the estimated amount of water being ejected was close to 15,000 kg/s, while that of dust particles was between 6,000 and 10,000 kg/s. Ions derived from water were detected in the... 

The interstellar dust was shown to contain quinone derivatives as well as oxygen-rich condensed aromatic compounds the quinones were present in both hydrated and carboxylated form. Very little nitrogen was present in the compounds detected. The cometary material, however, contained condensed nitrogen heterocycles. Hardly any oxygen was detected in the solid phase of the cometary dust it possibly evaporates from the tail of the comet in the form of water or oxidized carbon compounds. The authors assume that these analytical results could lead to a reconsideration of the current biogenesis models (Kissel et al 2004 Brownlee, 2004). 

A new reservoir of comets may have formed at around 5 AU in a local orbit around Jupiter or at least perturbed by its gravitational attraction. A comet close to Jupiter would simply have been captured, delivering its chemical payload to the ever-increasing gas giant. Some comets would merely have been deflected towards the inner terrestrial planets, delivering a similar payload of water and processed molecules. Cometary impacts such as the spectacular collision of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter would have been common in the early formation phase of the solar system but with a much greater collision rate. Calculations of the expected collision rate between the Earth and potential small comets deflected from the snow line may have been sufficient to provide the Earth with its entire... 

Snow line The distance from the Sun at which water is stable on the surface of particles leading to comets. The presence of a large planetary mass such as Jupiter can then direct comets onto Earth, providing a source of cometary molecules to a prebiotic Earth... 

Biscardi, D., Monarca, S., De Fusco, R., Senatore, F., Poli, P., Buschini, A., Rossi, C. and Zani, C. (2003). Evaluation of the migration of mutagens/carcinogens from PET bottles into mineral water by 7>a<7eicawtw/micronuclei test. Comet assay on leukocytes and GC/MS, Sci. Total Environ., 302, 101-108. 

Depending on conditions, frozen substances in comet nuclei can be crystalline ices, amorphous ices, and clathrate hydrates (compounds in which cages in the water-ice lattice can host guest molecules). Compositions of the ices and associated organic materials in comets have been determined from both telescopic and spacecraft observations. Spectral line measurements of gases in a comet s coma allow the identification of molecules and radicals. An inherent difficulty in spectral measurements is that volatiles in the coma are commonly broken... 

Oxygen isotopic compositions (relative to standard mean ocean water, SMOW) of several mineral grains in three Stardust particles, each grain denoted by a separate symbol. Open circles are from a CAI comet particle. After McKeegan et al. (2006). 

It is also possible that neither of these mechanisms for providing water to the inner planets is correct. Another hypothesis is that absorption of water onto dust particles in the accretion disk might account for the Earth s oceans (Drake, 2005). As already mentioned, the amount of water required to explain Earth s water is not large on a per-gram basis. Regardless of whether comets, asteroids, or nebular particles were the source of our planet s oceans, the water likely came from more distant regions of the nebular disk. 

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