Earth's cometary bombardment. Artwork of Earth being bombarded with cometary fragments. On a populated Earth, such a bombardment would be catastrophic, but in the early history of the solar system, it was cometary bombardment like this that is thought to have helped form the Earth's oceans. It is also thought that meteoritic and cometary material from space brought minerals and organic compounds to Earth, aiding or starting the development of life. This theory that life arrived on Earth from elsewhere, rather than developing here, is also known as panspermia or exogenesis.