Earth's Water Origins, Main Belt Comet Discovery, and BepiColombo's Latest Flyby: S27E149

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This is Space Time, Series 27,
Episode 149, for broadcast on

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the 11th of December, 2024.
Coming up on Space Time, new

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observations suggest that Earth
's oceans may have come from

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comets after all, Discovery of a
new and rare main belt comet,

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and BepiColombo successfully
undertakes its fifth Mercury

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flyby. All that and more coming
up on Space Time.

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Welcome to Space Time with
Stuart Gary.

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Scientists have discovered, much
to their surprise, that water on

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the Comet 67P
Sheremov-Zherosomenko actually

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does have a similar molecular
signature to the water found in

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Earth's oceans. The new findings
contradict other research into

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the possible origins of Earth's
water, and it reopens the case

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that Jupiter family comets, like
67P, could have helped deliver

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water to Earth.

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Knowing where our water came
from is sort of important. After

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all, liquid water is essential
for life as we know it. While

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some of Earth's water likely
already existed in the

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protoplanetary disk of gas and
dust from which the Earth was

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formed 4.6 billion years ago,
Some scientists believe that

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much of it would have vaporized
because of Earth's proximity to

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the Sun's intense heat during
its formation.

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So, exactly how the Earth became
rich in liquid water has

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remained a key source of debate
among scientists for years. We

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know that some of Earth's water
originated through vapor vented

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from volcanoes.

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That vapor condensed and then
rained down onto the oceans. But

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scientists have also found
evidence that a substantial

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portion of our oceans came from
ice and minerals on asteroids,

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and possibly comets that crashed
onto the Earth.

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A wave of comet and asteroid
collisions with the solar system

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's inner planets during what's
known as the late heavy

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bombardment four billion years
ago would have made this

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possible. While the case
connecting asteroid water with

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Earth is strong, the role of
comets has puzzled scientists.

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See, Several measurements of
Jupiter family comets, which

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contain primitive materials from
the early solar system and are

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thought to have formed beyond
the orbit of Saturn, show a

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strong link between their water
and Earth's. This link is based

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on a key molecular signature
which scientists can use to

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trace the origins of water
across the solar system.

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The signature is the ratio of
deuterium to regular hydrogen in

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the water, and it gives
scientists clues about where the

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body containing the water likely
formed. Now deuterium is simply

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a stable isotope of hydrogen,
which unlike normal hydrogen

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atoms, sometimes called protium,
and which are composed of a

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single electron orbiting a
single proton nucleus, deuterium

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also contains a neutron in its
nucleus.

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But it's not very common. Just
one out of every 6420 hydrogen

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atoms on average is a deuterium
isotope. When compared to Earth

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's water, this
hydrogen-deuterium ratio in

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comets and asteroids can reveal
whether there's a connection.

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Because water with deuterium is
more likely to form in cold

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environments, there's a higher
concentration of the isotope on

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objects that form far from the
Sun, such as comets, compared to

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objects that form closer to the
Sun, like asteroids. And

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measurements within the last
couple of decades of deuterium

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in the water vapour of several
Jupiter family comets showed

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similar levels to Earth's water.

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The study's lead author,
Kathleen Mandat, from NASA's

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Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Maryland, says it's

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starting to look like these
comets may have played a major

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role in delivering water to
Earth. Her research, reported in

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the Journal Science Advances,
revises the abundance of

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deuterium in the Comet 67P.

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But back in 2014, the European
Space Agency's Rosetta mission

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to Comet 67P challenged the idea
that Jupiter-family comets help

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fill Earth's water reservoir.
Back then, scientists who

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analysed Rosetta's water
measurements found the highest

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concentrations of deuterium of
any comet, and about three times

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more deuterium than what there
is in Earth's oceans.

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So Mandat and colleagues decided
to use an advanced statistical

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computation technique in order
to automate the laborious

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process of isolating
deuterium-rich water in more

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than 1,600 Rosetta measurements.
Rosetta made these measurements

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in the coma of gas and dust
surrounding Comet 67P.

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And Mandit's team, which
included Rosetta scientists, was

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the first to analyse all of the
Rosetta mission's water

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measurements spanning the entire
mission. You see, the

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researchers wanted to understand
what physical processes caused

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variability in the hydrogen
isotope ratios measured in

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comets.

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Lab studies and cometary
observations had already shown

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that cometary dust could affect
the readings of the hydrogen

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ratio that researchers detected
in comet vapour. And that could

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change science's understanding
of where cometary water comes

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from and how it compares with
Earth's water.

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The authors found a clear
connection between deuterium

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measurements in the coma of
Comet 67P and the amount of dust

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around the Rosetta spacecraft,
showing that the measurements

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taken near the spacecraft in
some parts of the comet's coma

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may not have been representative
of the true composition of the

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comet's body.

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See, as the comet moves in its
orbit closer to the Sun, its

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surface warms up, and that
causes gas to be released from

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the surface, including dust
which is coated in bits of water

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ice. And it just so happens that
water with deuterium tends to

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stick to dust grains far more
easily than regular water.

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When the ice in these dust
grains is then released into the

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coma, this effect could make the
comet appear to have far more

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deuterium than what it actually
does. Mandat and colleagues say

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that by the time the dust gets
to the outer part of the coma,

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at least 110 kilometres from the
cometary body, it's dried out.

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And with the deuterium-rich
water gone, a spacecraft can

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accurately measure the amount of
deuterium coming from the

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cometary body. This all has huge
implications not only for

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understanding a comet's role in
delivering Earth's water, but

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also for understanding cometary
observations which are providing

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insights into the formation of
the early solar system.

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Manit says it means there's a
great opportunity to revisit

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past observations and prepare
for future ones that can better

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account for the effects of dust.
This report from NASA TV.

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One of the things that makes
comets exciting is the fact that

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they're dynamic and changing and
a lot of activity. Rosetta is

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trying to understand the
physical, chemical, and

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geophysical properties of Comet
67P.

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We have many ways in which we're
trying to understand it. What is

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this thing made of? How is it
structured? How does it work?

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How does it absorb heat from the
Sun and how do these gases come

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out?

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What's really happening inside
the comets?

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The mystery of what comets are
like inside has baffled

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humankind for decades. Comets
have only proved us wrong time

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and time again. Part of science
is sit on the ground and deduce

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what's happening far away.

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Started out thinking that comets
were maybe a floating sand bank.

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There was a time that we thought
of a comet as like an onion with

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layers.

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And then we went to a dirty
snowball. It turns out that that

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's just completely wrong.

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What is exactly the nucleus was
not clear before. And we are now

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getting to understand what a
nucleus is made of. And we

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started to see the feature that
are on the surface. Everything

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was different from what we
expected. We see smooth,

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sandy-looking areas.

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We see cliffs that are a
kilometer high. We see rough

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patches. We see rocks. We've
never seen anything like this

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before. We see that the surface
of the comet is mostly organic

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dust. Below that is our dirt
crust. More questions are

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arising from what lies beneath
that surface.

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The radar tomography is the
first attempt ever to see inside

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the cockpit.

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We can see that this comet is
very rich in ice. It's just

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hidden by the crust of dark
material.

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The composition of ice is still
something that we don't

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completely understand.

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What it is, is very
extraterrestrial. So the

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properties of ice and the
properties of rock may be really

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important for explaining how
this comet works and maybe more

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comets in general.

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And then eventually get at the
big question of how comets form

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and how they might have
contributed to the formation of

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other planets like the Earth.

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And in that report from NASA TV,
we heard from Esam Heggy, a

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co-investigator on the concert
instrument on the Rosetta

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mission, Rosetta mission project
scientist Claudia Alexander,

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Rosetta mission participating
scientist Murphy Gepardi, and

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the deputy principal
investigator for the MRG

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instrument Mark Hofstetter.

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This is Space Time. Still to
come, Discovery of a rare

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main-belt comet, and the
BepiColumbus spacecraft

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undertakes its fifth Mercury
flyby. All that and more still

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to come. On Space Time.

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A mysterious object discovered
in the main asteroid belt

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between Mars and Jupiter back in
2021 has now finally been

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identified as a comet. Main belt
comets are icy objects found in

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the main asteroid belt rather
than in the cold outer solar

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system where most comet-like
bodies usually originate from.

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Main belt comets have regular
cometary-like features,

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including tails extending away
from the Sun, and fuzzy clouds

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of gas and dust called comas
which originate from the comet's

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nucleus.

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They were first discovered back
in 2006 and belong to a larger

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group of solar system objects
known as active asteroids, which

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look like comets but have
asteroid-like orbits in the warm

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inner solar system.

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This larger group includes
objects whose coma and tails are

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made of ejected dust produced
after an impact or through rapid

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rotation, rather than just the
ejected dust due to the

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vaporisation of ice. Both main
belt comets and active asteroids

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in general are still relatively
rare, but scientists are now

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discovering more and more of
them as they begin to learn what

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to look for.

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The study's lead author Henry
Heisch from the Planetary

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Science Institute observed an
active asteroid catalogued as

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456P Pan-STARRS twice using the
Magellan-Bade telescope and the

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Lowell Discovery telescope in
October 2024 to establish its

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status as only the 14th
confirmed main belt comet.

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A report in the Journal Research
Notes of the AAS suggested this

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object isn't just an asteroid
that's experienced a one-off

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event that caused it to show
activity one time, but it's an

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inherently active icy body,
similar to other comets from the

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outer solar system.

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Heish says that if 456P Panstar
's activity were due to

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something other than ice
vaporization, then its tail

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would be expected to appear only
once randomly, and not

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repeatedly appear whenever it
was close to the Sun.

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An icy object, on the other
hand, heats up every time it

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approaches the Sun, and the
vaporised ice drags dust out

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along with it. On the other
hand, when the same object then

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moves away from the Sun, it
cools and this activity stops.

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Observations of repeated dust
ejection activity during close

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approaches to the Sun are
currently considered the best

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and most reliable way of
identifying main belt comets.

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Hayes says there are very few
confirmed main belt comets

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known, and he wants to build up
the population so astronomers

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can get a clearer idea of what
their broader properties are,

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such as their size, their
activity duration, and their

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distribution within the asteroid
belt. This would allow them to

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better use and trace ices across
the solar system. This is Space

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Time.

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Still to come, BepiColombo
undertakes its fifth Mercury

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flyby, and later in the Science
Report, A new study claims that

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eating healthier during
pregnancy has been linked to a

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lower chance of giving birth to
a child with autism. All that

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and more still to come on Space
Time.

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The Bebe Colombo spacecraft has
just completed its fifth flyby

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of the planet Mercury. The close
encounter will help the probe

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burn off some of its speed as it
prepares to enter orbit around

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the solar system's mysterious
innermost planet in 2026. The

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spacecraft swooped down to
within some 37,630 kilometres

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above the Mercuryan surface.

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Now that's much further out than
during its four previous Mercury

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flybys, when BepiColombo flew
between 165 and 240 kilometres

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above the grey Cretopox surface.
However, this was the first time

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the probe was able to use its
Mertes radiometer and thermal

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infrared spectrometer in order
to study Mercury.

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The instrument measured how much
the tiny planet radiates in

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infrared light, something that
depends both on its temperature

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and the composition of its
surface. In fact, it's the first

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time any spacecraft has measured
what Mercury looks like in the

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mid-infrared range.

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The data that Mertiz is
collecting during its mission

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00:13:42,874 --> 00:13:45,455
will reveal what types of
minerals the planet's surface is

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00:13:45,515 --> 00:13:48,836
made of, one of the key Mercury
mysteries that BepiColombo is

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designed to tackle. BepiColombo
's other science instruments

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will monitor the environment
outside Mercury's magnetic

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field, including the influence
of the constant stream of

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charged particles from the Sun
called the solar wind on this

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radiated planet.

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00:14:02,796 --> 00:14:05,418
Other instruments switched on
during the flyby included the

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magnetometer, a gamma ray and
neutron spectrometer, an X-ray

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00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:12,262
and particle spectrometer, a
dust monitor and an instrument

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00:14:12,282 --> 00:14:15,123
that detects plasma waves,
electrical fields and radio

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waves.

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BipiColombo is a joint mission
between the European Space

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00:14:19,346 --> 00:14:22,548
Agency ESA and the Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency

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00:14:22,668 --> 00:14:26,270
JAXA and it's the most complex
mission ever to orbit Mercury.

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00:14:27,010 --> 00:14:31,013
It comprises two separate
science orbiters. ESA's Mercury

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00:14:31,093 --> 00:14:34,556
Planetary Orbiter and JAXA's
Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter.

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00:14:35,176 --> 00:14:37,979
During the cruise phase of their
mission to Mercury, the two

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orbiters are attached to a
Mercury Transfer Module. But

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00:14:41,922 --> 00:14:44,904
once they're about to achieve
Mercury orbit insertion, they'll

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00:14:44,964 --> 00:14:47,927
separate from the transfer
module and move to their own

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00:14:48,047 --> 00:14:52,330
independent orbits. Needless to
say, we'll keep you informed.

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00:14:53,071 --> 00:14:54,332
This is Space Time.

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And time now to take another
brief look at some of the other

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00:15:12,634 --> 00:15:15,315
stories making news in science
this week with the Science

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00:15:15,355 --> 00:15:15,816
Report.

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00:15:16,736 --> 00:15:19,958
New research shows that eating a
healthier diet during pregnancy

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00:15:20,138 --> 00:15:23,100
is linked to a lower risk of
giving birth to a child that

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00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:26,842
will later be diagnosed with
autism. The findings, reported

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00:15:26,842 --> 00:15:29,544
in the Journal of the American
Medical Association, are based

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00:15:29,564 --> 00:15:32,806
on data from two large studies
of parents and children

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00:15:32,926 --> 00:15:35,548
involving nearly 85,000
pregnancies.

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00:15:36,132 --> 00:15:39,494
The authors looked at food
questionnaires, autism diagnoses

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00:15:39,654 --> 00:15:43,756
and autism-associated traits.
They say that when calculating

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00:15:43,756 --> 00:15:47,098
the overall healthiness of mum's
diet, those who adhered to a

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00:15:47,118 --> 00:15:50,980
healthy prenatal diet were 22%
less likely to have a child who

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00:15:50,980 --> 00:15:54,582
would later be diagnosed with
autism. And children of mothers

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00:15:54,642 --> 00:15:57,604
with a healthy prenatal diet
were less likely to have social

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00:15:57,624 --> 00:15:59,024
communication difficulties.

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00:16:00,645 --> 00:16:03,867
A new study has found that
mealworms are able to eat and

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00:16:03,907 --> 00:16:08,073
digest microplastics. With
microplastics being found in

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00:16:08,073 --> 00:16:10,735
just about everything we
consume, knowing there could be

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00:16:10,735 --> 00:16:13,356
a solution out there is a big
step forward.

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00:16:13,896 --> 00:16:16,498
The findings reported in the
Journal Biological Letters

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00:16:16,698 --> 00:16:19,179
suggest that these tiny
creatures could play a small but

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00:16:19,319 --> 00:16:23,121
very slow part in managing
plastic pollution. The authors

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00:16:23,202 --> 00:16:26,583
fed mealworms a mixture of bran
and microplastics from melted

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00:16:26,643 --> 00:16:29,605
face masks in the lab and found
the mealworms consumed about

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00:16:29,645 --> 00:16:32,467
half of the microplastics they
were given without any negative

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00:16:32,487 --> 00:16:34,608
consequences for survival and
development.

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00:16:35,212 --> 00:16:38,393
They say while this means that
mealworms could play a role in

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00:16:38,433 --> 00:16:41,930
tackling the plastic pollution
crisis, it'd be quite slow. That

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00:16:41,930 --> 00:16:45,316
's because it would take 100
mealworms roughly 4 to 5 months

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00:16:45,396 --> 00:16:48,798
just to consume one face mask in
microplastic form.

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00:16:50,258 --> 00:16:53,359
A new study warns that the
humble bumblebee sense of smell

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00:16:53,519 --> 00:16:57,061
could be impacted by heatwaves.
A report in the Journal Of The

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00:16:57,061 --> 00:17:00,622
Proceedings Of The Royal Society
B exposed bumblebees from two

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00:17:00,702 --> 00:17:03,804
common European species to
temperatures of up to 40 degrees

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00:17:03,864 --> 00:17:07,345
Celsius. Mimicking heat waves in
order to see how it changed

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00:17:07,345 --> 00:17:08,085
their behavior.

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00:17:08,745 --> 00:17:11,866
The authors found that after the
heat, the bees showed reduced

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00:17:11,906 --> 00:17:15,327
antenna responses to floral
scents, suggesting that they may

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have lost their sense of smell.
Scientists say this affected

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00:17:19,068 --> 00:17:22,129
female worker bees far more than
male mating bees, and the

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00:17:22,129 --> 00:17:25,250
reduced sense of smell could
make it harder for bees to find

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food.

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00:17:27,490 --> 00:17:30,591
Samsung are testing the waters
with proposed new artificial

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00:17:30,631 --> 00:17:34,024
intelligence upgrades for their
Galaxy smartphones. For the

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00:17:34,064 --> 00:17:36,425
details, we're joined by
technology editor Alex

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00:17:36,445 --> 00:17:39,025
Saharov-Royd from
TechAdvice.life.

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00:17:39,266 --> 00:17:43,607
The underlying operating system
of Samsung devices, it is

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00:17:43,747 --> 00:17:47,228
Android, but their sit-on-top is
called the One UI, and this is

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00:17:47,248 --> 00:17:52,529
now up to version 7. So Samsung
previewed the One UI 7 beta.

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00:17:52,689 --> 00:17:55,410
Obviously, they talk about
powerful AI features. These

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00:17:55,510 --> 00:17:58,911
updates include advanced writing
assist tools, so this is

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00:17:59,011 --> 00:18:02,792
integrated into the OS. Text can
be selected without needing to

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00:18:02,832 --> 00:18:03,092
switch.

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00:18:03,212 --> 00:18:06,415
Between applications. So it's
within the same interface, which

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00:18:06,415 --> 00:18:08,757
is what you'd expect in
something that you actually see

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00:18:09,097 --> 00:18:12,680
on an Apple device. Normally, a
lot of people are using AI

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00:18:12,740 --> 00:18:16,423
tools, so they have to go from
CatGPT back to Word. And this is

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00:18:16,483 --> 00:18:19,486
even the Word, for example, that
has ProCard. I mean, there's a

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00:18:19,526 --> 00:18:20,787
lot of integration.

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00:18:20,987 --> 00:18:23,770
You've got upgraded call
features where the call

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00:18:23,810 --> 00:18:27,553
transcript now supports 29
languages. And this is where

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00:18:27,773 --> 00:18:30,335
when call recording is enabled,
recorded calls will

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00:18:30,475 --> 00:18:33,677
automatically be transcribed for
reference later on. This is only

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00:18:33,717 --> 00:18:37,479
going to be for Samsung Galaxy
S24 users to start with.

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00:18:37,619 --> 00:18:40,580
Initially, it's going to be
Germany, India, Korea, Poland,

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00:18:40,620 --> 00:18:41,080
and the UK.

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00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:43,261
Do we know how often people
upgrade their phones?

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00:18:43,401 --> 00:18:46,142
Look, it has stretched out as
the cost of living has gone up

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00:18:46,202 --> 00:18:48,863
and devices have become more
expensive. I mean, people used

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00:18:48,863 --> 00:18:51,344
to easily update their phone
year on year. Now, of course,

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00:18:51,444 --> 00:18:54,025
not everybody did that. People
have been holding onto their

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00:18:54,045 --> 00:18:57,667
devices for three, four, five
years. And that's why Samsung

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00:18:57,727 --> 00:19:00,728
and Google and others are
promising seven years of up.

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00:19:00,928 --> 00:19:05,110
Updates for their devices. Now,
clearly, a device that was sold

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00:19:05,110 --> 00:19:09,453
in 2024 is not going to be
anywhere near as exciting as a

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00:19:09,473 --> 00:19:12,895
device sold in 2030. But if the
updates are still made

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00:19:12,915 --> 00:19:16,096
available, then the security
updates is what is really of

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00:19:16,156 --> 00:19:18,117
concern to most people because
they don't want to get hacked.

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00:19:18,217 --> 00:19:21,259
And we have seen a bounce back
in the number of phone sales

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00:19:21,339 --> 00:19:24,001
over the past year compared to
the last two or three years

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00:19:24,101 --> 00:19:26,882
where phone sales dropped off
after a bit of a boost during

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00:19:26,882 --> 00:19:29,844
the pandemic. So yeah, people
are holding on to their devices

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00:19:29,884 --> 00:19:32,965
more than ever. But there's
always the temptation to upgrade

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00:19:33,046 --> 00:19:35,647
when you see these cool new AI
features that are supposed to

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00:19:35,647 --> 00:19:36,408
make your life easier.

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00:19:36,588 --> 00:19:39,750
That's Alex Saharov-Royd from
TechAdvice.life.

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00:19:55,399 --> 00:19:58,945
And that's the show for now.
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00:19:59,025 --> 00:20:02,508
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00:20:47,658 --> 00:20:51,080
full details. You've been
listening to Spacetime with

360
00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,483
Stuart Gary. This has been
another quality podcast

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00:20:54,503 --> 00:20:56,244
production from Bytes.Com.