The project

Life appeared on Earth about 3.8 billion years ago, but we ignore the process that made it possible. Recent theories propose that primitive Earth was a huge chemical reactor where a high diversity of precursor components progressively turned into primordial metabolic, self-replicating, and membrane-bounded systems. The origin of these components is debated though. They could be formed endogenously or exogenously. It is remarkable that life appeared on Earth soon after the arrival of tones of extraterrestrial organic material on its surface by the impact of meteorites and comets and thus, exogenous delivery is considered a decisive step in the origin of life. This idea is supported by the detection of amino acids, nucleobases and sugars in meteorites and comets. The chemical composition of comets could be inherited from the parental molecular cloud. But what molecules of prebiotic interest can be formed in interstellar space? And which ones could be inherited from the initial conditions of star and planet formation? 

OPENS is an interdisciplinary project that will discover what prebiotic molecules are present in the interstellar medium (Research Objective RO1) and are inherited by Solar-system precursors (Research Objective RO2). OPENS will also investigate the emergence of complexity in interstellar chemistry by using a new theoretical framework based on Complex Network Theory that we have just developed (Research Objective RO3; see Figure below).

Our novel approach integrates astronomical observations with forefront facilities such as ALMA and JWST, laboratory experiments of ices, quantum chemical computations and theoretical modeling. This research is very timely since it will exploit ultra-sensitive, broadband spectroscopic surveys recently obtained with the IRAM 30m and Yebes 40m telescopes, as well as data from ALMA, JVLA and JWST. The detection in the ISM of the prebiotic compounds essential for the emergence of life, will pave the way for understanding of how life could originate on our planet and how likely it is to emerge elsewhere in the Universe.