Excess of L-Alanine in Amino Acids Synthesized in a Plasma Torch Generated by a Hypervelocity Meteorite Impact Reproduced in the Laboratory

We present a laboratory reproduction of hypervelocity impacts of a carbon containing meteorite on a mineral substance representative of planetary surfaces. The physical conditions of the resulting impact plasma torch provide favorable conditions for abiogenic synthesis of protein amino acids: We identified glycine and alanine, and in smaller quantities serine, in the produced material. Moreover, we observe breaking of alanine mirror symmetry with L excess, which coincides with the bioorganic world. Therefore the selection of L-amino acids for the formation of proteins for living matter could have been the result from plasma processes occurring during the impact meteorites on the surface. This indicates that the plasma torch from meteorite impacts could play an important role in the formation of biomolecular homochirality. Thus, meteorite impacts possibly were the initial stage of this process and promoted conditions for the emergence of a living matter

Processing and Synthesis of Pre-Biotic Chemicals in Hypervelocity Impacts

Hypervelocity impacts (HVIs) may have played a significant role in establishing the initial organic inventory for pre-biotic chemistry on the Earth and other planetary bodies. In addition to the delivery of organic compounds intact to planetary surfaces, generally at velocities below approx.20 km/s, HVIs also enable synthesis of new molecules. The cooling post-impact plasma plumes of HVIs in the interstellar medium (ISM), the protosolar nebula (PSN), and the early solar system comprise pervasive conditions for organic synthesis. Such plasma synthesis (PS) can operate over many length scales (from nm-scale dust to planets) and energy scales (from molecular rearrangement to atomization and recondensation). HVI experiments with the flexibility to probe the highest velocities and distinguish synthetic routes are a high priority to understand the relevance of PS to exobiology. We describe here recent studies of PS at small spatial scales and extremely high velocities with pulsed laser ablation (PLA). PLA can simulate the extreme plasma conditions generated in impacts of dust particles at speeds of up to 100 km/s or more. When applied to carbonaceous solids, new and pre-biotically relevant molecular species are formed with high efficiency [1,2]

Study of the main geochemical characteristics of Phobos' regolith using laser time-of-flight mass spectrometry

The peculiarities of the airborne LAZMA instrument applied for the measurement of the isotopic and elemental composition of Phobos’ regolith by the method of laser time-of-flight mass spectrometry are discussed. These measurements may confirm the assumptions that the material of Phobos is an initial substance with a composition close to carbonaceous chondrites, from which the Earth was formed. The results of the measurements may also confirm the original mechanism of the formation of the anomalous absorption of Phobos’ regolith suggested in this study. The obtained results regarding the elemental composition of the regolith may contain information about the conditions of the formation of Phobos, as well as provide information about it age. The scientific tasks of individual experiments and ways for their realization are considered in the paper. A detailed description of the airborne instrument and the principle of its operation is presented. The analytical and technical characteristics of the instrument and the peculiarities of constructive decisions are given. Data on the most important functional assemblies of the instrument, the development and transmission of scientific information to the Earth, are considered. The mass spectra presented in the paper were obtained by airborne instruments during the course of their laboratory test and the selection of the operating regime. It is demonstrated that the LAZMA instrument is the first version of the original next-generation airborne instrument constructed at the Space Research Institute and patented in Russia

Excess of l-alanine in amino acids synthesized in a plasma torch generated by a hypervelocity meteorite impact reproduced in the laboratory

We present a laboratory reproduction of hypervelocity impacts of a carbon containing meteorite on a mineral substance representative of planetary surfaces. The physical conditions of the resulting impact plasma torch provide favorable conditions for abiogenic synthesis of protein amino acids: We identified glycine and alanine, and in smaller quantities serine, in the produced material. Moreover, we observe breaking of alanine mirror symmetry with L excess, which coincides with the bioorganic world. Therefore the selection of L-amino acids for the formation of proteins for living matter could have been the result from plasma processes occurring during the impact meteorites on the surface. This indicates that the plasma torch from meteorite impacts could play an important role in the formation of biomolecular homochirality. Thus, meteorite impacts possibly were the initial stage of this process and promoted conditions for the emergence of a living matte