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Phoenix666 writes:

Phys.org:

Less than a month before the end of the Rosetta mission, the space probe was just 1.9 km above the surface of Chury as it flew through a dust cloud from the comet. This resulted in a direct impact of dust in the ion source of the mass spectrometer ROSINA-DFMS (Rosetta Orbiter Sensor for Ion and Neutral Analysis-Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer), led by the University of Bern. Kathrin Altwegg, lead researcher on ROSINA and co-author of the new study published today in the prestigious journal Nature Astronomy, says: "This dust almost destroyed our instrument and confused Rosetta's position control."

[...] Extensive laboratory work was needed in order to prove the presence of these salts in cometary ice. "The ROSINA team has found traces of five different ammonium salts: ammonium chloride, ammonium cyanide, ammonium cyanate, ammonium formate and ammonium acetate," says the chemist on the ROSINA team and co-author of the current study, Dr. Nora Hänni. "Until now, the apparent absence of nitrogen on comets was a mystery. Our study now shows that it is very probable that nitrogen is present on comets, namely in the form of ammonium salts," Hänni continues.

The ammonium salts discovered include several astrobiologically relevant molecules which may result in the development of urea, amino acids, adenine and nucleotides. Kathrin Altwegg says: "This is definitely a further indication that comet impacts may be linked with the emergence of life on Earth."

As far as the origins of life are concerned, comets do seem to have the right stuff.

Kathrin Altwegg et al. Evidence of ammonium salts in comet 67P as explanation for the nitrogen depletion in cometary comae, Nature Astronomy (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-019-0991-9

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