Tardigrades have been demonstrated capable of surviving in space for extended periods and withstanding extreme conditions. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/12855775

Tardigrades have been demonstrated capable of surviving in space for extended periods and withstanding extreme conditions. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/12855775 http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/12855775 Then there is the whole recent "Octopus RNA too weird for Earth" thing, which is setting alight the panspermia theses .. myself, personally, I'm tending to think its more and more likely. In my head, in 10 years time, we'll all have this gigantic "there is life in space, and its just like here on Earth only .. hardier .." discussion again and again. Or, maybe we'll still be wondering .. either way, my mind is made up: Octopus are galaxy-wide species, tardigrades too, and we monkeys better be careful we don't join the rest of whatever bipedal species are out there, and step on too many of our little tardigrade/octopus buddies. And, so on. (BTW, don't eat octopus! If the aliens invade, they'll probably massacre you eaters first!)