A Method For Delivering Prebiotic Molecules to a Planetary Surface: Results From Smashing Rock and Organics at 11.2 km/second

It has been postulated that organic-rich planetesimals played a crucial role in the origin of life, but the mechanism by which the organics could have been delivered to a planetary surface is not well understood. We have developed a technique for launching aluminum projectiles at velocities above 11.0 km/s [1]. We fabricated a target that represented both the planet and the bolide. An inorganic, aluminum projectile impacted a layered target composed of aluminum and zeolitic tu that was saturated with an aqueous solution containing dissolved deuterated napthalene, a simple polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. Gas chromatography was used in conjunction with mass spectrometry on the tu plugs as well as the gas retrieved from the inner chamber. Data were retrieved from 10 to 300 daltons. Preliminary results showed that deuterated products were found in the gas from the chamber, as well as in the tu plugs. Naphthalene, benzene and toluene were identi ed in deuterated forms, although no compounds larger than naphthalene were found in the post-impact environment. Thin sections of tu were acquired from each layer of the target and from the control samples that were unimpacted tu . Thin section analysis of post-impact material showed a high degree of mechanical deformation varying with depth in the target, but no indication of high-pressure phases or recrystallizaton. There did not appear to be a substantial di erence in fracture patterns between tu plugs within a single layer.