3 ms·
Collect all of Earth's extremophiles--those tolerant to heat, cold, radiation, drought, high pH, low pH, organic pollutants, etc.--and pack them all into an art
by logfromblammo 8y ago
Collect all of Earth's extremophiles--those tolerant to heat, cold, radiation, drought, high pH, low pH, organic pollutants, etc.--and pack them all into an artificial spore casing. Pack those into a spacecraft.
Aim the spacecraft at a detected planet or moon, and set it to start ejecting spores whenever it nears a massive object. Make the spores break open and release their biological payload when an accelerometer detects an impact spike, starting a timer, which is reset by changes in acceleration.
Most spores will break open in an environment too hostile for the extremophiles, but some will land in conditions that at least partially overlap those found on Earth, and those could reproduce. A cold desert planet could become a lichen-encrusted planet. A wet volcanic planet could become a vent-tubeworm planet.
If we ever have the wherewithal to reach those planets eons later, the extremophiles that evolve there could be sequenced and broadcast around explored space for use in other spore-ships.
Panspermia from meteorite ejecta would be a slow and painfully random process. An engineered--and, more importantly, aimed--spore craft would increase the odds tremendously.