3 ms·
It's an open question, but there is some reason to believe that bacteria can survive a journey through space. Multicellular life would be much less likely to su
by rootbear 8y ago
It's an open question, but there is some reason to believe that bacteria can survive a journey through space. Multicellular life would be much less likely to survive, although I'm constantly amazed at how hard it is to kill a tardigrade!
- mda 8y agoLong journey to Mars in hard vacuum and under UV radiation makes it very unlikely, but bacteria spores are very resilient to harsh conditions. I think it is still theoretically possible. There are a few papers on this. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/11539977/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/11539977/
- sureste 8y agoIt's called panspermia, for the curious.
- dustfinger 8y agoA tardigrade must first complete cryptobiosis, otherwise they are fragile[1]. Given that it takes time to enter cryptobiosis (maybe 1 hour), it is unlikely that any active tardigrade would survive a meteor impact. Suppose a tardigrade was in complete cryptobiosis and survived a journey to the surface of Mars. Conditions would need to be favorable if it were to ever regain an active metabolic state. [1]https://www.quora.com/What-does-it-take-to-kill-a-waterbear-tardigrade https://www.quora.com/What-does-it-take-to-kill-a-waterbear-...