The Components of Life

Raw materials of Stellar Death

Report by

R.Adm. RM Wey

OSR: SFS – SFC

Since the very birth of our system, the seeds of life were floating amongst the debris. The signs were all around us, as the very composition of man is based on star stuff.

From various gases to the water that covers our world, cometary and asteroidal fragments have bombarded its surface, carrying with them the very seeds of life.

Such heavy bombardments lasted until some four billion years ago, yet even today, remnants of the dark recesses of stellar nebulae continue to be swept into earth’s orbit.

A growing theory among astro-chemists is that some important raw materials needed in the life process hitched rides with the falling matter during the early stages of our planet’s development. Some were adept at cellular processes, while others could absorb the high concentrations of ultraviolet radiation, which existed during the early formation of our planet.

Fossil records show that terrestrial life was well underway as far back as 3.5 to 3.9 billion years ago. And while this life was little more than microbic, there is little doubt that such would have required help from space molecules.

Thus, the first single-celled organisms own their earliest existence to a series of chemical reactions that led to the formation of carbon-rich molecules such as amino acids. Such conclusions are supported by research conducted in labs where high voltage has been introduced [in the form of lightning] into a ‘primitive’ atmosphere of simple hydrogen rich molecules.

Some of these compounds are lost as the bodies pass close to the warmer inner planets, which later are swept up by earth’s gravity as it moves along its orbit. However, it is finding the ‘source’ of these molecules that has proven tougher to determine. Are the ‘ground zero’ origins of such bodies hot or cold? Recent observations of the interstellar regions surrounding us tend to lean towards a combination of the two.

In space, molecular breakdown and re-composition occur as the ice into which they are locked becomes heated. This in turn creates unusual and complex structures not possible through other means. Through this we know that even the seemingly barren conditions of deep space can generate complex organic compounds.

So the possibility that life became viable as a result, or was aided by, the influx of extraterrestrial organics seems at least sound enough to devote more study to the premise.

Further updates will follow, as information becomes available.