Origins of life on Earth

A while back I saw a program on TLC, or I think it was TLC : .
Anyway, The show was about how life could have been "seeded" on Earth by Comets or Asteroids. This got me thinking, and researching.
The biggest argument against this theory is that the components that make up life ,ie the amino acids and proteins and other organic materials, could not survive the impact.
Well, A NASA-supported experiment reveals that complex molecules hitchhiking aboard a comet could have survived an impact with Earth.

"Our results suggest that the notion of organic compounds coming from outer space can't be ruled out because of the severity of the impact event," says Jennifer Blank, a geochemist at the University of California, Berkeley. Blank and colleagues simulated a comet collision by shooting a soda-can sized bullet into a metal target containing a teardrop of water mixed with amino acids - the building blocks of proteins.

Not only did a good fraction of the amino acids survive, but many polymerized into chains of two, three and four amino acids, so-called peptides. Peptides with longer chains are called polypeptides, while even longer ones are called proteins.

I think that is amazing that not only did those materials survive but the impact was actually instrumental in fusing those materials into more complex materials.

Basically, in the experiment, they fire a steel capsule filled with the basic organic materials that make up the cells of animals and plants("life"). They fire this capsule at 1.6 kilometer-per-second into a target in a chamber that is pressurised to 200,000 times atmospheric pressure. This simulates the impact of the rock or comet on the Earth. Like I said, not only did the materials survive they actually combined to make more complex organic materials. Wow.
When they froze the capsule to simulate a comet the survival rate went up even higher for these materials. Also the addition of water actually is a greater enabler for the evolution of life.

The next question is , "how does this material get on the comet or space rocks."
Well, Astronomers have detected many kinds of organic molecules in space, floating in clouds of gas or bound up in dust particles. They range from the simplest - water, ammonia, methane, hydrogen cyanide and alcohols, including ethyl alcohol - to more complex molecules.
We have even ,just recently, found sugar in space.
This sugar is known as Glycolaldehyde, an 8-atom molecule composed of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen, can combine with other molecules to form the more-complex sugars Ribose and Glucose. Ribose is a building block of nucleic acids such as RNA and DNA, which carry the genetic code of living organisms. Glucose is the sugar found in fruits. Glycolaldehyde contains exactly the same atoms, though in a different molecular structure, as methyl formate and acetic acid, both of which were detected previously in interstellar clouds. Glycolaldehyde is a simpler molecular cousin to table sugar, the scientists say.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast20jun_1.htm

New NASA Spacecraft

This is an artists rendering of the new NASA Spacecraft called Orion , and it is a capsule based spacecraft.  This Apollo like vehicle is designed to succeed NASA's Space Shuttles, which are set to be retired by 2010. Even though it is based from the 1960's Apollo vehicles NASA says the new Solar powered Orion will be larger and much more technically advanced then the old Apollo vehicles.

NASA is expecting to begin manned flights with the Orion to the International Space Station in 2014 and return Astronauts to the moon by 2020. 

The New Face of Mars

The Martian feature known as the "face" is located in an area called Cydonia in the Arabia Terra region.

This area of Mars is a transition zone between the southern highlands and the northern plains, and it contains great valleys and ancient remnant mounds called "massifs".

In a photo (see above) that was taken on July 25 1976 by NASA's Viking 1 Orbitor one of these massifs became what is now known as the infamouse "Face".

The speckled appearance of the image is due to missing data, called bit errors, caused by problems in transmission of the photographic data from Mars to Earth. Bit errors make up part of one of the "eyes" and "nostril" on the erroded rock that resembles a face . Shadows in the rock formation also give the illusion of a nose and mouth.

Even though NASA scientist new the face was just an illusion they released the pic to the public anyway.

Soon after the picture was released a myth developed. The myth is that the "face" is an artifical structure built by an ancient civilization or aliens.

This myth has been around all my life basically. I grew up with the face on Mars. I have seen specials about the "face" on T.V. like every other year or so.

Now, with new images created with data from the Mars Express Orbitor, released Sep 21 2006, we can see the remnant massif for what it is

.......a remnant massif..., Not a face created by an ancient civilization or aliens. Just a mound of rock and dirt.

Our New Solar System

Three days ago in Prague, the International Astronomical Union voted on and passed a new definition of Planets, which demotes Pluto to a new classification of Dwarf Planet. The actually definition for a Planet is:

"A “planet” is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit."

Which means our solar system is now made up of 8 planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The IAU also defined a new classification: a dwarf planet. The formal definition is:

"A “dwarf planet” is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape , (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite."

Which means Pluto, Ceres and 2003 UB313(nicknamed Xena) are the first dwarf planets. The IAU also defined all other objects except satellites orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as “Small Solar-System Bodies”.

Now I have been reading articles and blog posts objecting to the demotion of Pluto from full Planet status. Whats the big deal. Pluto has never enjoyed full planetary status since it was discovered about a hundred years ago. It's about time they finally classified it.  Our knowledge of the Universe and especially our Solar System is growing, so why can’t our classifications change also. 

Anyways, this classification could change in the future, depending on what data the New Horizons spacecraft sends back to earth.  The spacecraft lifted off in January of this year, at the time headed for the ninth planet, now it is headed for the first Dwarf Planet.  Who know what we will have learned by then. We might have to except more of that horrible ... "change".