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How much energy would it take to get a bacterial cell into orbit? I'm guessing it's so little this could happen quite frequently in a violent storm.

ufmace 9y ago
Orbit is doubtful - what natural process could accelerate a bacteria to those speeds after getting it out of the atmosphere? Maybe some bacteria somehow floated up high enough to be hit by the ISS, but I would think they would be obliterated by the impact, despite being microscopic.
- JoeAltmaier 9y ago
  The usual argument relies on meteor impact throwing detritus into the upper atmosphere. We have rocks from Mars that got here by that means.
  - ufmace 9y ago
    Meteor impacts throwing debris into space can happen for sure, but we're talking about stuff that ends up on the outside of the ISS. The bacteria would have to be on something large enough to shelter it from the heat and wind of the original impact and high-speed passage through the atmosphere. It would have to end up in a stable orbit in the ballpark of where the ISS is. Surviving bacteria would then have to make their way out of this object and float around in space. And then their orbit drifts until they hit the ISS, mostly likely at very high speed unless they happen to be in almost exactly the same orbit. Feels pretty unlikely.
- astrodust 9y ago
  Given kinetic energy is a function of mass, and bacteria way basically nothing it doesn't seem impossible for them to enter orbit, only improbable.
  - ufmace 9y ago
    I may be rusty on my physics, but I think momentum/impulse is what you need here. You can throw all the energy you want at a bacteria or spec of dust or something, and you might vaporize it, but you aren't going to accelerate it to 20k mph relative to the surroundings, much less launch it out of the top of the atmosphere at those speeds. Even a bacteria is quite massive compared to particles that can hit those speeds by random collisions.

ufmace 9y ago

Orbit is doubtful - what natural process could accelerate a bacteria to those speeds after getting it out of the atmosphere? Maybe some bacteria somehow floated up high enough to be hit by the ISS, but I would think they would be obliterated by the impact, despite being microscopic.

JoeAltmaier 9y ago
The usual argument relies on meteor impact throwing detritus into the upper atmosphere. We have rocks from Mars that got here by that means.
- ufmace 9y ago
  Meteor impacts throwing debris into space can happen for sure, but we're talking about stuff that ends up on the outside of the ISS. The bacteria would have to be on something large enough to shelter it from the heat and wind of the original impact and high-speed passage through the atmosphere. It would have to end up in a stable orbit in the ballpark of where the ISS is. Surviving bacteria would then have to make their way out of this object and float around in space. And then their orbit drifts until they hit the ISS, mostly likely at very high speed unless they happen to be in almost exactly the same orbit. Feels pretty unlikely.
astrodust 9y ago
Given kinetic energy is a function of mass, and bacteria way basically nothing it doesn't seem impossible for them to enter orbit, only improbable.
- ufmace 9y ago
  I may be rusty on my physics, but I think momentum/impulse is what you need here. You can throw all the energy you want at a bacteria or spec of dust or something, and you might vaporize it, but you aren't going to accelerate it to 20k mph relative to the surroundings, much less launch it out of the top of the atmosphere at those speeds. Even a bacteria is quite massive compared to particles that can hit those speeds by random collisions.