Did delivery of exogenous organics and water enable the emergence and evolution of life?
The investigation is divided into four Themes: Theme 1: Establish the taxonomy of icy planetesimals and their potential for delivering pre-biotic organics and water to the young Earth and other planets. Theme 2: Investigate processes affecting the origin and evolution of organics in planetary systems. Theme 3: Conduct laboratory simulations of processes that likely affected the chemistry of material in natal interstellar cloud cores and in proto-planetary disks. Theme 4: Develop advanced methods for the in-situ analysis of complex organics in small bodies in the Solar System. We seek to better understand the organic compounds generated and destroyed in the interstellar and proto-planetary environments, through observational, theoretical, and laboratory work. We will examine the potential for and limitations to delivery of exogenous pre-biotic organics to planets, examining factors that enhance or restrict this potential. We will, for the first time, investigate the effect of astrophysi
