Meteor Storms as a Window on the Delivery of Extraterrestrial Organic Matter to the Early Earth

Abstract

The unique rarefied flow and flash heating in meteors creates physical conditions that can change exogenous organic matter into unique prebiotic molecules. with the exception of rare giant comet impacts, most infalling matter at the time of the origin of life was deposited in the atmosphere during the meteor phase. Much new data has been obtained from observations in the Leonid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign; a series of NASA and USAF sponsored Astrobiology missions that explored the 1998–2002 Leonid meteor storms. Here, we provide an overview of some of this recent insight, which provides a framework in which the prebiotic chemistry can be studied.