5 ms·

There's also another similar long-term experiment being performed on the International Space Station [0]. It's not finished yet but apparently preliminary resul

There's also another similar long-term experiment being performed on the International Space Station [0]. It's not finished yet but apparently preliminary results [1] suggest that microorganisms can possibly be lifted into the upper atmosphere from the oceans somehow. They found different planktonic species from all over the world on the outer surface of the space station, which is hard to explain by spacecraft contamination on the ground or during the flight alone. [0] http://tsniimash.ru/science/scientific-experiments-onboard-the-is-rs/cnts/experiments/test/ http://tsniimash.ru/science/scientific-experiments-onboard-t... (in Russian, but Google Translate seems to work okay on this one) [1] https://www.energia.ru/ktt/archive/2015/01-2015/01-03.pdf https://www.energia.ru/ktt/archive/2015/01-2015/01-03.pdf

bb88 7y ago
An armchair explanation might be that a hurricane or tornado might be able to do this. Water spouts have scooped up fish into the sky only to dump them on land hundreds of miles from shore. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254812/Hundreds-fish-fall-sky-remote-Australian-town-Lajamanu.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254812/Hundreds-fi...
- tonyarkles 7y ago
  In Ben Rich's book about the Skunkworks, one of the aircraft (U2? SR71?) was encountering high-altitude insect impacts on their windshields. Turns out they'd been lofted up there by nuclear tests.
  - W-Stool 7y ago
    Absolutely the best book, everyone here should read it.
    - baxtr 7y ago
      Why?
      - baxtr 7y ago
        That was a genuine question... I am really interested in knowing
        permatech 7y ago
        Read the book and tell us
        tim333 7y ago
        Have an Amazon review: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R3PX9NZPUHXBI9/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00A2DIW3C https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R3PX9NZPUHXBI9/... Sounds pretty good if you like aircraft tech and the like
    - tonyarkles 7y ago
      I think one of the things that still blows my mind is how quickly they went from concept to first flight on the U2 (18 months?). That's the kind of things a well-focused, finely-tuned, well-funded, "cut the bullshit" engineering organization can accomplish.
  - mathattack 7y ago
    Great book. And this was my guess for the ISS too.
- tim333 7y ago
  You don't really need a hurricane. A regular thunder storm will lift stuff pretty high and then I guess they would mix with the jet stream and the like.
adtac 7y ago
Interesting. I wonder if some extreme events could have kicked up enough microorganisms that some even went to the moon! That would be a false positive for finding life on the moon.
- Gibbon1 7y ago
  I'd make a $5 bet that if they find and sequence life on Mars it'll be not just speciously like archaea but actually archaea.
- perlgeek 7y ago
  We find rocks from the Moon and from Mars[0] on earth, and have reason to believe that small pieces of rock travel from most inner solar system bodies to most others. I find it totally believable that some micro organisms could survive the ride on such rocks and possibly thrive on other bodies, if the environment is suitable. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_meteorite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_meteorite
  - pvaldes 7y ago
    Rocks expelled and melted after a collision. If i'm not wrong, none alive or organic would survive on magma. Not even prions.
    - jsjohnst 7y ago
      Depends on how fast the magma cooled. There are life forms which can handle up to 122°C and still actively reproduce. Look up hyperthermophiles for more info.
      - pvaldes 7y ago
        When the magma has cooled enough the rock would be in space or in the upper mars atmosphere at least, not touching anything. Anything growing on mars surface would burn, only an hypothetical floating microbe could land in this rock after cooling, but would be like expecting a bacteria landing in a bullet, surviving the impact and then sticking to the surface whereas still alive (and much later surviving a second impact against earth after years in outer space). Seems unprobable.
throwaway2048 7y ago
Provides really interesting evidence for one particular type of panspermia if larger organisms than bacteria are able to enter orbit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia#Radiopanspermia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia#Radiopanspermia

bb88 7y ago

An armchair explanation might be that a hurricane or tornado might be able to do this. Water spouts have scooped up fish into the sky only to dump them on land hundreds of miles from shore. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254812/Hundreds-fish-fall-sky-remote-Australian-town-Lajamanu.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254812/Hundreds-fi...

tonyarkles 7y ago
In Ben Rich's book about the Skunkworks, one of the aircraft (U2? SR71?) was encountering high-altitude insect impacts on their windshields. Turns out they'd been lofted up there by nuclear tests.
- W-Stool 7y ago
  Absolutely the best book, everyone here should read it.
  - baxtr 7y ago
    Why?
    - baxtr 7y ago
      That was a genuine question... I am really interested in knowing
      - permatech 7y ago
        Read the book and tell us
      - tim333 7y ago
        Have an Amazon review: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R3PX9NZPUHXBI9/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00A2DIW3C https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R3PX9NZPUHXBI9/... Sounds pretty good if you like aircraft tech and the like
  - tonyarkles 7y ago
    I think one of the things that still blows my mind is how quickly they went from concept to first flight on the U2 (18 months?). That's the kind of things a well-focused, finely-tuned, well-funded, "cut the bullshit" engineering organization can accomplish.
- mathattack 7y ago
  Great book. And this was my guess for the ISS too.
tim333 7y ago
You don't really need a hurricane. A regular thunder storm will lift stuff pretty high and then I guess they would mix with the jet stream and the like.

adtac 7y ago

Interesting. I wonder if some extreme events could have kicked up enough microorganisms that some even went to the moon! That would be a false positive for finding life on the moon.

Gibbon1 7y ago
I'd make a $5 bet that if they find and sequence life on Mars it'll be not just speciously like archaea but actually archaea.
perlgeek 7y ago
We find rocks from the Moon and from Mars[0] on earth, and have reason to believe that small pieces of rock travel from most inner solar system bodies to most others. I find it totally believable that some micro organisms could survive the ride on such rocks and possibly thrive on other bodies, if the environment is suitable. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_meteorite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_meteorite
- pvaldes 7y ago
  Rocks expelled and melted after a collision. If i'm not wrong, none alive or organic would survive on magma. Not even prions.
  - jsjohnst 7y ago
    Depends on how fast the magma cooled. There are life forms which can handle up to 122°C and still actively reproduce. Look up hyperthermophiles for more info.
    - pvaldes 7y ago
      When the magma has cooled enough the rock would be in space or in the upper mars atmosphere at least, not touching anything. Anything growing on mars surface would burn, only an hypothetical floating microbe could land in this rock after cooling, but would be like expecting a bacteria landing in a bullet, surviving the impact and then sticking to the surface whereas still alive (and much later surviving a second impact against earth after years in outer space). Seems unprobable.

throwaway2048 7y ago

Provides really interesting evidence for one particular type of panspermia if larger organisms than bacteria are able to enter orbit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia#Radiopanspermia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia#Radiopanspermia