Assam: Meteorite which crashed in Golaghat district 7 years ago likely to hold secrets of the origin of life

Asteroids in space and meteorites that have crashed on Earth have provided scientists with a wealth of knowledge on how life began on Earth.

The OSI RIS-REx mission, which is said to gather a sample from Asteroid Bennu and return it to Earth, is an excellent example, as scientists hope to learn more about the origins of life on Earth.

In the most recent development, a meteorite dubbed Kamargaon, which crashed roughly seven years ago in Kamargaon town in the Golaghat region of Assam, India, is thought to bear secrets to the genesis of life. The chemical makeup of the meteorite suggests that it all started in the centre of stars.

According to a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, researchers discovered uncommon vesicular olivine and pyroxene in minerals for the first time in a meteorite from the outer solar system.

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Researchers from Hiroshima University in Japan and the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad collaborated on the study, which was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Planets.

Several previous investigations have demonstrated that volatile elements such as oxygen, carbon, sodium, manganese, and sulphur are essential for life. As a result, tracing the presence of these elements and any other space entities is critical since it may tell the narrative of Earthlings.

“Our prime interest is to know how the planet Earth was formed. This study provides evidence of volatile elements, for example, sulfur, sodium, manganese, and iron in the Kamargaon meteorite, which are crucial elements for the origin of life," explains Sujoy Ghosh of the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, told indiatoday.in.

What is the Kamargaon meteorite?

This meteorite that crashed in Assam village is said to have come from the asteroid belt, which is positioned between Mars and Jupiter and includes the majority of the asteroids. 
According to the research, the space rock was fractured after colliding with another asteroid. 

The impact dispersed the asteroid's smaller fragments, and some of these micro space pebbles landed on Earth's surface. 

According to the findings, the Kamargaon meteorite was formed by a huge asteroid measuring over 6.4 kilometres in size.