Volatile Species in Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: Investigating the Link from the ISM to the Terrestrial Planets

Rubin, Martin; Bekaert, David V.; Broadley, Michael W.; Drozdovskaya, Maria N.; Wampfler, Susanne F. (2019). Volatile Species in Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: Investigating the Link from the ISM to the Terrestrial Planets. ACS earth and space chemistry, 3(9), pp. 1792-1811. ACS Publications 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.9b00096

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Comets contain abundant amounts of organic and inorganic species. Many of the volatile molecules in comets
have also been observed in the interstellar medium and some of them even with similar relative abundances, indicating
formation under similar conditions or even sharing a common chemical pathway. There is a growing amount of evidence that
suggests comets inherit and preserve substantial fractions of materials inherited from previous evolutionary phases, potentially
indicating that commonplace processes occurred throughout comet-forming regions. Through impacts, part of this material has
also been transported to the inner planetary system, including the terrestrial planets. While comets have been ruled out as a
major contributor to terrestrial ocean water, substantial delivery of volatile species to the Earth’s atmosphere, and as a
consequence also organic molecules to its biomass, appears more likely. Comets contain many species of prebiotic relevance and
molecules that are related to biological processes on Earth, and have hence been proposed as potential indicators for the
presence of biological processes in the search of extraterrestrial life. Although the delivery of cometary material to Earth may
have played a crucial role in the emergence of life, the presence of such alleged biosignature molecules in the abiotical
environment of comets complicates the detection of life elsewhere in the universe.

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