Study: Half of the asteroids bringing Earth's ocean waters – Space – Science

The study, published in the journal Science Advances Science, is based on traces of water recently discovered by researchers from the Arizona State University on fragments of the asteroid Itocava. The discovery shows that at the beginning of the Earth, water could have been created, partly because of collisions with asteroids.

"We discovered that the asteroid samples we studied were water rich," said lead researcher Dzilyny Jin.

Samples were obtained from the Itocava asteroid during the Japanese Hayabus survey mission. The drink is about 548 meters long and an asteroid 200 to 300 meters wide.

Researchers of asteroid samples have discovered traces of piroxene (minerals containing mainly iron and magnesium and exhibiting good cleavage). Earth samples, which were badyzed by scientists, were also piroxen. The scientists therefore concluded that this similarity indicated that some of the ocean oceans had been brought here by asteroids.

"Before us, no one else even came to get water on these samples. We are delighted that our efforts have borne fruit, "said one of Maitraje Bose's researchers.

To continue this study, NASA plans to take samples of the asteroid dump in 2020 and bring them back to Earth by 2023.