A long voyageback to our origin

Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Prof. Kathrin AltweggUniversity of Bern, Switzerland

Krebs Nebula

From the elementsto molecules and

dust

From dust andmolecules to the presolar nebula

From the presolarnebula to the soalr

system of today

From hydrogen to the heavy elements

Big Bang, 13 Billion years, Hydrogen and Helium

History of the material in the solar system

Comets

Entstehung Kometen

Snow line

Comets, Witnesses of our past

The Earth 4-4.5 billion yearsago

4.6 billion years ago: T > 200 C

Mass Earth: 1024 kg

water thereof: 1%o

Mass comet: 1014 kg

107 Comet impacts

Did comets bring terrestrial water?

Did comets bring thebuilding blocks of life, the

organic material?

� In space, there exists organic chemistry

�Molecules up to amino-acids exist outside of our Earth and of the solar system

�Comets preserve organic material

�Comets can serve as carrier for waterand organic material

DPUDigital data processing unit, fully redundant2.2 kg, 5 W

DFMSDoubled focussing

mass spectrometerfor the volatile materialVery high mass resolution (e. g. resolves 13C and CH)16 kg, 22W

RTOFReflectron Type time-of-flight-mass spectrometer; Very high mass range and sensitivity in order to identify organic material (e.g. polyaromatic hydrocarbons) 15 kg, 30W

COPSPressure sensor to measure the total and the ram pressure in order to derive the gas dynamics, safety instrument for Rosetta. 1.7 kg, 7 W

COPS-FS (NG, left filament)

0.1

1

10

100

1000

1.E-10 1.E-09 1.E-08 1.E-07 1.E-06 1.E-05

Pressure (mbar)

Ion

curr

ent (

pA)

103 uA Emission, Ionlow

15uA Emission, Ion low

15uA Emission, Ionmedium

5uA Emission, Ion low

5uA Emission, Ionmedium

DetailsContext and heavy species

Dann kommt die Physik

GVE EMPA

APCOHauptverantwortung

Contraves Space

Max Planck, Lindau, D

CNES Toulouse, F

Sigmund Scientific, USA

Montena EMC

Meier Laser-schweisstechnik

PSI Elektronenstrahl-schweisstechnik

FS Fribourg

FS Biel

ETH Zürich TUB, D

FS Bern

Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO /INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

Chury – the rubber duck

hydrogen sulphidewater

carbon monoxide

carbon dioxide

methane

ammonia

methanol

sulphur dioxide

carbon disulfide

cyanide

“The perfume of 67P/C-G is quite strong, with the odour of rotten eggs (hydrogen sulphide), horse stable (ammonia), and the pungent, suffocating odour of formaldehyde. This is mixed with the faint, bitter, almond-like aroma of hydrogen cyanide. Add some whiff of alcohol (methanol) to this mixture, paired with the vinegar-like aroma of sulphur dioxide and a hint of the sweet aromatic scent of carbon disulphide, and you arrive at the ‘perfume’ of our comet.”

formaldehyde

3x10-4 1.5x10-41.5 x10-4

D/H

Which small bodies brought the terrestrial water?

LutetiaCredit: ESA/Rosetta/OSIRIS

67P/C-GCredit: ESA/Rosetta/OSIRIS

Hartley 2Credit:NASA

?

Asteroids Kuiper beltOort cloud

Deuterium to hydrogen ratio measurements

Water from Rosetta background

Water from the comet

Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM

3x10-

45.3x10-41.5x10-

4

D/H

Asteroids, Oort comets, Kuiper belt comets: which small bodies brought terrestrial water?

Temperature

Credits: ESA/Rosetta/OSIRISCredits: ESA/Rosetta/OSIRIS

Asteroids Kuiper beltOort cloud

Atoms: Sodium, Magnesium, Silicon und Calcium

ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM

Sputtering by solar wind particles

Noble gases 36Ar & 38Ar

ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM

Indicators for a very low formation temperature

Benzene

ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM

Conclusion on habitability> The comet stinks due to a lot of

Sulfur, but there is molecular oxygen and water and there is even alcohol to drink -> it is habitable!

ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM

Acknowledgements

The ROSINA (Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis) instrument package was designed and built by an international consortium led by the Space Research and Planetary Sciences Division, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland. Hardware subsystems were delivered by: > the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASP), > Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP)> Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL), Paris, France, > Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center (LMATC), Palo

Alto, MPS, Göttingen, Germany, > Institute of Computer and Network Engineering at the TUB> University of Michigan - Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space

Sciences.Thanks to the Rosetta team at ESA, especially the operations team in Darmstadt for taking excellent care of Rosetta and ROSINA.

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