The theory that Earth's water may have come from asteroids is not a new one. In fact, past research has shown that the water on our planet has a similar composition of isotopes as water found in carbonaceous asteroids — ancient, water-rich space rocks that frequently pounded Earth during the planet's early years.
What did remain a mystery until now was how these asteroids were able to deliver water to our previously arid planet in its incipient stages of development.
A pair of scientists from Brown University believe they may have found the answer and published a study in the journal Science Advances to tell us how it all could have gotten down (yes, that was an attempt at a pun).
The team concocted an experiment that used projectile cannon blasts to simulate the force of high-velocity asteroid impacts and test how much water content — if any — could be transferred through such collisions.
For the purpose of this exercise, the researchers used marble-sized projectiles similar in composition to carbonaceous chondrites (meteorites recovered from carbonaceous asteroids) and fired them at volcanic rocks at speeds of 11,200 mph, or around 18,000 km/h, reports Space.com.
The experiment, conducted with NASA's Vertical Gun Range at the Ames Research Center in California, uncovered that an asteroid could deliver up to 30 percent of its water content in this type of collision that later becomes trapped in debris following the impact.
