The unplanned bump by the craft that landed on a comet turned out to be a bonus for scientists. Staff on the Rosetta project say the double-landing has given them additional useful data that could even boost a theory about how life came to Earth.

The Philae probe successfully reached comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko last October but initially bounced off the surface and took another two hours to reland and settle.

According to the European Space Agency, while that may have been stressful at the time, it’s proven an “unexpected bonus” as it meant Philae could gather data from two different landing locations in differing terrains, making it possible to check for both variations and consistencies.

Analysis of the data sent back by Philae has shown 16 organic compounds in the dust thrown up by the landing. Four of these have never been found in comets before: acetamide, acetone, methyl isocyanate and propionaldehyde.

Philae also assessed the gases just above the landing surface and discovered that as well as expected components such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and water vapor, there was a small amount of formaldehyde.

That could be significant, the ESA notes, because formaldehyde can form sugars such as ribose, which in turn can form part of ribonucleic acid, an essential part of creating life.

While it’s in no way a piece of slam dunk evidence, the discovery could boost the theory that life on Earth may have originated with a comet strike that delivered a “primordial soup” of compounds in frozen form.

There may be more data to come as, although Philae went into a hibernation mode shortly after landing, it re-established contact last month. That could allow staff to remotely control it again and take more measurements and imagery.

The findings so far are detailed in a special edition of Science.