About 71% of Earth\u2019s surface is called water: it\u2019s not for nothing that our home is known as the \u2018blue planet\u2019.<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Human beings are mostly made of water. We require regular intake of water for our body to perform its necessary functions; to keep us alive.<\/p>\n We may have originally come from water, before evolving into the land-based mammals that dominate the planet today.<\/p>\n We see water throughout the Solar System, too: beneath the icy crusts of moons like Enceladus and Europa, or in the geology of Mars, which tells us that the Red Planet was once a much wetter, more hospitable place than it is today.<\/p>\n Without water, we would be nothing. But where did Earth\u2019s water come from?<\/p>\n What are the origins of water across the Universe, within our Solar System, and how did water find its way to our planet?<\/p>\n These are tricky questions to answer, but planetary science has come a long way to providing solutions as to where exactly water came from.<\/p>\n Water molecules form in interstellar space by chemical reactions between hydrogen molecules and oxygen-bearing molecules such as carbon monoxide.<\/p>\n The Solar System inherited its water from ice-coated interstellar grains in the dust cloud from which the Sun and planets<\/a> formed 4.6 billion years ago.<\/p>\n![\""North\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2021\/08\/05-Apollo-Earth-image-AS10-34-5013-4d12ccc-e1630412069358.jpeg?quality=90&resize=620%2C620"\" "\\"\"North\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\""A\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/09\/203_PIA18413-530adf1-e1568729584576.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C465"\" "\\"\"A\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>How water is formed<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\""An\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/04\/Solar-System-formation-85e949d.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"Solar\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/08\/Rosetta-dust-plumes-2922539-e1565605972396.jpeg?quality=90&resize=620%2C434"\" "\\"\"The\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>