Rosetta data puts the origin of Earth's water in doubt

Scientists are pretty positive that Earth's water did not originate on Earth itself, thus wherever did it come from, exactly? several believe the source is water-rich comets that bashed into our planet billions of years agone. However, new observations from the Rosetta artificial satellite have weakened that theory. once it scanned the water vapour streaming from comet 67P (above), ESA scientists found that there was 3 times a lot of deuterium (heavy water) than found on Earth. that is vital, attributable to 11 comets measured to this point, only 1 has an equivalent water we do -- comet 103P, a Jupiter-class (Kuiper Belt) comet analyzed by the ESA's Herschel telescope in 2011.

That led scientists to believe that each one Jupiter-class comets (found in an orbit nearer to the sun than oort cloud comets, as shown below) contained Earth-like water, however Rosetta's findings have seemingly dominated out that concept. Rosetta's comet 67P, a Jupiter-class comet itself, contains the very best quantitative relation of heavy water for any comet ever discovered in either comet belt. That leaves asteroids because the presumably donor of water on Earth. although they contain a way lower proportion of water than comets, the composition of that water is that the same as Earth's. However, it would've taken a way larger variety of collisions to possess made our oceans.
That said, Rosetta's measurements haven't provided definitive proof of wherever our water comes from. One scientist told the that future measurements of each asteroids and comets between Mars and Jupiter are required. Another discovered that Rosetta's observation do not provides a true image of comet 67P's water composition, as a result of the quantity of moderator varies as gas escapes its surface. what is extremely required are measurements from the Philae Lander's instruments -- and sadly, Philae is presently