Patel, N. V. (2019, May 03). An asteroid’s water may offer clues to the origin of life on Earth.Retrieved from https://www.popsci.com/asteroid-water#page-2

This article informs the public about a new discovery in space, when a Japanese Hayabusa probe brought back samples of an asteroid back to Earth to be studied. This was the first time a sample was brought back in conditions that were good enough to analyze, which allowed them to discover that this body of asteroid contains water. The main reason why biochemists are shocked to find water in the Itokawa asteroid is because it has gone through many hard conditions in space for millions of years as it collided with other rocks in space and faced high temperatures. From this they have concluded that the bigger asteroid that Itokawa was originally a part of, must have contained water in it. The next step researchers want to take it to understand whether water carrying asteroids have the ability to transfer water onto planets they collide with or other bodies in space. If this theory is proven, then it will explain the discovery of water on Mars and can support the theory of how Earth’s oceans were born. Earth is the only known blue planet that sustains water and life and it is important to understand how.

The most intriguing aspect of this discovery is how it laid the foundation for many future studies because of all the new theories and possibilities it comes with. It was described in the article that these asteroids can be considered as the building blocks for planets, it could be possible that water is not the only thing they can deliver. The soil on Earth that is able to sustain plants could also have come from an asteroid. This also raises new questions, did Earth get lucky to collide and collect all the resources to give birth to new life on its surface? Why did the surrounding planets not get affected? And how and where were the asteroids collecting water from? Another question it raises for me is how the atmosphere on Earth came to be, although traces of water was discovered on Mars, everything else on the planet is not suitable to contain life or oxygen, but somehow it worked for Earth.

Neel V. Patel is a journalist, from New York, who mainly focuses on writing about science and technology. This article was to inform the general public about yet another shocking space discovery. Its purpose is to keep everyone up to date with all the new information and further goes to show the importance of studying and understanding space because we know very little about it. The author does a good job in expressing the questions that researchers were contemplating and planning to prove. To me, this article also plays a role in encouraging to protect Earth since it emphasizes that we have no knowledge of any other planet like it.