A research group from Kobe University has demonstrated that the heat generated by the impact of a small astronomical body could enable aqueous alteration and organic solid formation to occur on the surface of an asteroid.
They achieved this by first conducting high-velocity impact cratering experiments using an asteroid-like target material and measuring the post-impact heat distribution around the resulting crater.
From these results, they then established a rule-of-thumb for maximum temperature and the duration of the heating, and developed a heat conduction model from this. [Read more…] about Did heat from impacts on asteroids provide the ingredients for life on Earth?
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