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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Projectile cannon experiments show how asteroids can deliver water [brown.edu]

Experiments using a high-powered projectile cannon show how impacts by water-rich asteroids can deliver surprising amounts of water to planetary bodies. The research, by scientists from Brown University, could shed light on how water got to the early Earth and help account for some trace water detections on the Moon and elsewhere.

"The origin and transportation of water and volatiles is one of the big questions in planetary science," said Terik Daly, a postdoctoral researcher at Johns Hopkins University who led the research while completing his Ph.D. at Brown. "These experiments reveal a mechanism by which asteroids could deliver water to moons, planets and other asteroids. It's a process that started while the solar system was forming and continues to operate today."

The research is published in Science Advances [sciencemag.org] [open, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aar2632] [DX [doi.org]].

Also at Popular Mechanics [popularmechanics.com] and BGR [bgr.com].

Original Submission