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The Emergence of Prebiotic Chemistry in the ISM

Izaskun Jimenez-Serra, Giuliana Cosentino, Francisco Montenegro-Montes, Laura Colzi, Victor M. Rivilla, Miguel Sanz-Novo, Marta Rey-Montejo, David San Andres, Sergio Martin, Shaoshan Zeng, Amelie Godard Palluet, Miguel A. Requena-Torres, German Molpeceres, Pamela Klassen, Doug Johnston, Francesco Fontani, Silvia Spezzano, Elena Redaelli, Juris Kalvans, Yuri Aikawa, Belen Tercero, Pablo de Vicente, Serena Viti, Emilio J. Cocinero, Aran Insausti

TL;DR

The paper argues that the ISM hosts a reservoir of prebiotic chemistry that could seed planetary systems, supported by detections of complex organic molecules in regions like G+0.693 and in external galaxies. It advocates for a large-area, highly sensitive single-dish telescope (AtLAST) to perform multi-band, wide-field spectral surveys across 30–50 GHz, enabling robust identification of prebiotic species and tracing chemical complexity beyond the Milky Way. By leveraging high-sensitivity, multi-frequency observations, the work aims to establish whether interstellar chemistry naturally produces nucleobases, sugars, and amino-acid precursors, and how this chemistry scales with metallicity and galactic environment.

Abstract

Contrary to popular belief, the interstellar medium (ISM) is not empty; it is filled with atoms, dust particles, and molecules. Some of these molecules may have been the very building blocks of life that, delivered to Earth via comets and meteorites, could have given rise to Life itself. A large-area single-dish telescope with superb sensitivity, field-of-view and multi-band instruments will allow us to explore the limits of chemical complexity in the interstellar medium, across our Galaxy and in external galaxies, determining whether amino acids, sugars, or RNA/DNA nucleobases can form in space.

The Emergence of Prebiotic Chemistry in the ISM

TL;DR

The paper argues that the ISM hosts a reservoir of prebiotic chemistry that could seed planetary systems, supported by detections of complex organic molecules in regions like G+0.693 and in external galaxies. It advocates for a large-area, highly sensitive single-dish telescope (AtLAST) to perform multi-band, wide-field spectral surveys across 30–50 GHz, enabling robust identification of prebiotic species and tracing chemical complexity beyond the Milky Way. By leveraging high-sensitivity, multi-frequency observations, the work aims to establish whether interstellar chemistry naturally produces nucleobases, sugars, and amino-acid precursors, and how this chemistry scales with metallicity and galactic environment.

Abstract

Contrary to popular belief, the interstellar medium (ISM) is not empty; it is filled with atoms, dust particles, and molecules. Some of these molecules may have been the very building blocks of life that, delivered to Earth via comets and meteorites, could have given rise to Life itself. A large-area single-dish telescope with superb sensitivity, field-of-view and multi-band instruments will allow us to explore the limits of chemical complexity in the interstellar medium, across our Galaxy and in external galaxies, determining whether amino acids, sugars, or RNA/DNA nucleobases can form in space.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 3 sections, 3 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Scientific context and motivation
  2. Science case
  3. Technical requirements

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1:
  • Figure 1: Sample of prebiotic molecules detected toward the Galactic Center cloud G+0.693 including precursors of ribonucleotides, amino acids, sugars, proto-proteins and proto-lipids (see recent review by Jiménez-Serra 2025). Background image: SARAO, Heywood et al. (2022) / J. C. Muñoz-Mateos.
  • Figure 2: Predicted spectra of erythrulose and ribose for the molecular excitation conditions measured in G+0.693. The blue dashed line indicates the 3$\sigma$ level = 0.3 mK needed for this science.