The Earth as Transient Life Assembly Plant                                             

by the Druid Finn

 

Abstract

We propose to formalize and test a “cosmic supply-chain” model in which Earth functions as a transient self-assembly station (or plant): a time, energy and chemical elements (formerly called atoms) conditions bounded planetary environment that consists of and ingests a universal inventory of basic or quantised (albeit highly complex) elements and simple (albeit highly complex) molecules, catalyses their organization into increasingly complex, self-replicating and self-upgrading systems, and ultimately disperses those products, reverted to elementary particle status, back into the interstellar medium. The hypothesis synthesizes (i) standard nucleosynthesis and supernova enrichment as the source of the periodic-table feedstock, and (ii) direct cosmo-chemical evidence from the OSIRIS-REx sample return from asteroid (101955) Bennu showing water-related salts (including sodium- and magnesium-bearing phosphates) and abundant, soluble, nitrogen-bearing organics (ammonia, amino acids; racemic mixtures), consistent with prebiotic inventories deliverable to early Assembly Plant Earth. We outline falsifiable predictions and a work plan integrating comparative cosmochemistry, systems chemistry, and planetary modelling.

 

1) Background and Rationale

Cosmic (hardware, because observed) inventory. Hydrogen/helium (highly complex nested energy packet aggregates functioning as quantised modules) arose (is believed to have arisen) from Big-Bang nucleosynthesis; subsequent stellar fusion and supernovae produced heavier elements that were added to and dispersed as “cosmic dust” (basic chemical elements, heterogeneous grains, ices, and salts). Protoplanetary, gravity driven accretion concentrates this inventory into suns, planetesimals and volatile-rich asteroids capable of shuttling prebiotic cargo to habitable surfaces previously assembled from like cosmic dust. (Standard cosmochemistry; Bennu results provide the most pristine, contemporary constraints.)

Why Bennu matters. The OSIRIS-REx mission returned pristine regolith from Bennu. Initial and first-wave peer-reviewed analyses show:


• Water-related evaporite sequence (sodium-rich carbonates, sulfates, chlorides, fluorides) and sodium-bearing phosphates, consistent with late-stage brines on Bennu’s parent body. These salts are water-soluble carriers for bioessential P and counterions (Na, Mg), directly relevant to phosphorylation chemistry.
• Abundant soluble, nitrogen-rich organics, including ammonia with ¹⁵N enrichments indicative of formation in cold molecular clouds/outer disk reservoirs; the organics inventory exceeds that in Ryugu and many meteorites.
• Amino acids present as racemic mixtures (L≈D), consistent with abiotic synthesis and limited enantioenrichment prior to biology.
• Mission and agency reports further document carbon-rich material, water, and magnesium–sodium phosphates in Bennu grains, with microscopy showing phosphate veins.
• Multiple institutional news releases (summarizing team findings) report amino acids and even all five nucleobases detected by collaborating labs; while promising, we treat nucleobase breadth as provisionally reported pending full peer-review convergence.

Together, these data operationalize the “parts list” (C, H, N, O, P, S + alkali/alkaline-earth counterions) and aqueous processing required for phosphorylation, carboxylation, reductive amination, and proto-metabolic network formation—precisely the inventory a planetary “self-assembly station” would draw upon.

 

2) Central Hypothesis

Planet Earth is a transient assembly station (like a car plant) that:


H1. Self-assembled (compressed of cosmic dust) curtesy of gravitation                                        H2. Receives energy from its sun                                                                       H3. Receives exogenous prebiotic cargo (salts, organics, volatiles) from bodies like Bennu originating in outer space.
H4. Uses endogenous energy gradients (UV, redox, geothermal, tidal) to drive out-of-equilibrium reaction networks (phosphate activation, amination, condensation) that increase molecular complexity and produce autocatalytic sets and genetic polymers.
H5. Exports assembled structures (molecules, spores, engineered life/tech) via natural ejection (impacts) and technological dispersal, before the assembly operation, named Earth, shuts down (i.e. disintegrates via solar evolution, tectonic/atmospheric loss).

Null expectation: If Earth is not such a transient station, exogenous inventories should be chemically irrelevant or inconsistent with plausible prebiotic pathways.

 

3) Specific Aims

Aim 1 — Constrain the exogenous feedstock.
Quantify the flux and speciation of C–N–O–P-bearing molecules and salts deliverable to Hadean Earth using Bennu-calibrated inventories (ammonia, amino acids, phosphates, carbonates, halides). Map solubilities, counterions (Na⁺, Mg²⁺), and brine evolution pathways (evaporite sequences) to surface and hydrothermal settings.

Aim 2 — Demonstrate phosphorylation and condensation under Bennu-like chemistries.
Using measured magnesium–sodium phosphate phases and ammonia activities, test nonenzymatic phosphate activation (e.g., cyclic metaphosphates, imidazolides) and condensation to nucleotides/oligomers. Parameterize yields vs. ionic strength, pH (alkaline brines), wet-dry cycling, and minerals (carbonates/sulfates/chlorides) to identify maximal prebiotic productivity regimes.

Aim 3 — Build and validate a station-level systems model.
Couple delivery rates, geochemical reactors (shorelines, pores, vents, aerosol microdroplets), and network autocatalysis to simulate throughput from elements → monomers → polymers → protocells. Constrain with racemic starting states for chiral monomers (as observed) and test pathways to symmetry breaking. Generate falsifiable predictions for meteoritic, sedimentary, and isotopic signatures.

 

4) Approach (Methods and Analyses)

4.1 Feedstock quantification (comparative cosmochemistry).

·         Use Bennu sample compositions as priors: evaporite mineralogy for Na-phosphate/Na-carbonate systems; soluble NH₃ and organics abundances; carbon content. Integrate with delivery models (late accretion, micrometeoroid rain).

·         Stable-isotope constraints: propagate ¹⁵N enrichments from Bennu ammonia into early Earth nitrogen cycle models to evaluate compatibility with sedimentary kerogen records.

4.2 Prebiotic reactor experiments (systems chemistry).

·         Aqueous–evaporative cycling with Bennu-like salt recipes (Na/Mg phosphate + Na carbonates/sulfates/chlorides) across pH 8–11 and 0.1–2 m ionic strengths to test phosphorylation of ribose/adenosine; monitor nucleotide condensation by LC-MS/MS and ³¹P-NMR.

·         Ammonia-rich conditions reflecting Bennu soluble organics; evaluate Strecker-type amino acid synthesis and reductive amination pathways; enforce racemic boundary conditions and probe chiral amplification mechanisms (crystallization, mineral surfaces).

·         Mineral templating: assess adsorption and catalysis on carbonate and sulfate surfaces quantified from Bennu.

4.3 Planetary “station” model (integrated).

·         Implement a mass-balance model that ingests exogenous fluxes, internal geochemical energy budgets, and reactor network kinetics to compute throughput (mol·yr⁻¹) of monomers, activated phosphates, oligomers, and protocell compartments.

·         Calibrate to Bennu-derived inventories; explore sensitivity to brine alkalinity, wet–dry duty cycles, and UV/thermal power. Validate against meteoritic organics distributions and sedimentary isotope baselines.

 

5) Testable Predictions (Falsifiability)

1.     Phosphate availability: Bennu-like water-soluble Na/Mg phosphates should enable phosphorylation/condensation at environmentally plausible rates in alkaline brines; failure under measured compositions falsifies key assembly steps.

2.     Isotopic continuity: ¹⁵N-enriched ammonia from exogenous sources should imprint detectable anomalies in oldest sedimentary nitrogen; absence with adequate sensitivity disfavours substantial exogenous N contribution.

3.     Chirality trajectories: Starting from racemic amino acids (as in Bennu), models must recover observed Archean/Proterozoic chiral biases via geophysical processes; if only biological amplification fits, abiotic station-level chirality control is unlikely.

4.     Mineralogy concordance: Prebiotic reaction optima should coincide with evaporite sequences actually observed in Bennu samples; if optimum chemistries require mineral assemblages absent from both Bennu and plausible Hadean analogs, the station scenario weakens.

 

6) Expected Outcomes and Significance

·         Quantitative linkage from cosmic inventories → planetary reactors → molecular complexity, grounded in Bennu-validated salt and organics chemistries.

·         A process-based definition of habitability: planets act as finite-lifetime assembly stations whose productivity depends on exogenous soluble P/N supplies, brine evolution, and energy fluxes—parameters now measurable in returned samples.

·         A framework to interpret future sample-return missions and plume-sampling (e.g., Enceladus/Europa) via phosphate/evaporite systematics and soluble nitrogen inventories.

 

Concluding Statement

By anchoring a planetary-scale self-assembly hypothesis to measured extraterrestrial inventories—specifically the phosphate-rich evaporites and soluble nitrogen-bearing organics in Bennu—the proposal converts a philosophical framing into a testable scientific program. Earth’s role as a transient self-assembly station/plant becomes a quantitative question of fluxes, brines, activation chemistries, and kinetics—now constrained by the first pristine samples of the very cargo that likely fed our own station. Since the basic ingredients that self-assemble to complex life quanta on plant (rather than planet) Earth appear distributed throughout the cosmos and are likewise subject to the effects of the 4 natural forces, it can be inferred that countless other self-assembled life-assembly plants are operational in the universe. A similar view, namely panspermia, was first proposed in Greece by Anaxagoras in the 5th century BC.

 

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