4 ms·

It was probably blown up there by "uplifting air currents" according to : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2728979/Never-mind-alien-life-SEA-PLAN

by ejr 12y ago

It was probably blown up there by "uplifting air currents" according to : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2728979/Never-mind-alien-life-SEA-PLANKTON-space-Creatures-living-surface-ISS-officials-say.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2728979/Never... We have to keep in mind that, even at that altitude, there are still air molecules. They're extremely sparse, but just enough that the drag they induce on the ISS and its large surface area of solar panels make periodic boosting necessary.

washedup 12y ago
And there must be enough to keep heavier particles lifted up that high.
narag 12y ago
So they also survived an impact with the orbitting station at 9 km/s? I don't think so.
- guard-of-terra 12y ago
  They don't have to survive for you to find traces.
  - DanBC 12y ago
    The article is unclear whether these organisms are alive or not. > Results of the scope of scientific experiments which had been conducted for a quite long time were summed up in the previous year, confirming that some organisms can live on the surface of the International Space Station (ISS) for years amid factors of a space flight, such as zero gravity, temperature conditions and hard cosmic radiation. Several surveys proved that these organisms can even develop.
    - alexyes 12y ago
      Unlikely to be alive
    - TeMPOraL 12y ago
      So basically the Earth is a life-covered rock that spits organisms to hundreds of kilometers from its surface. This is just awesome!
      - jerf 12y ago
        Panspermia is a theory for a reason. As an explanation for life on Earth itself it has a challenge ahead of it, but due to the small amounts of life that Earth is known to be flinging about it's a known fact that Earth life has landed on the other planets. (Or at least their corpses, but it seems reasonably likely that some of it would survive the trip in some form of stasis or spore, given how resilient we know microscopic life can be.) If life is ever found on Mars, the next question to be asked after identification is, "is it related to Earth life?" Which we'd check by checking certain of the parameters of life on Earth that do not seem to be "forced" by physics, but are universal on Earth (how DNA codes for proteins, for instance). If they all matched up, it would strongly suggest one single common origin... though that origin could conceivably be on Mars. Interestingly, this also means that if the Solar System is still otherwise sterile despite the arrival of Earth life, that has interesting implications of its own.
- akiselev 12y ago
  If the bacteria floated up to LEO (which is very possible) the impact was likely in the meters/second range because it would have had to match the orbit closely enough. Because bacteria are so small (and the filaments they use to support the cell membrane is so strong) it would take an extreme impact to "splatter" them. Remember also that archaeic bacteria (as well as simple multicellular organisms) live on the bottom of oceans like the Mariana Trench where the pressure is over 1,000 atmospheres (enough to turn you into a miniature hockey puck).
  - narag 12y ago
    If the bacteria floated up to LEO... LEO is not a place.
lotsofmangos 12y ago
This may well be the reason, however keep in mind that the daily mail is generally held to be less reliable a source than throwing darts at a dictionary.
mkonecny 12y ago
Would the moon ever need a "boost"? Even though it's probably not hitting any air molecules from Earth, it's still colliding with tons of space debris a day.
- adrianN 12y ago
  The moon is actually moving away from the earth.
- mnw21cam 12y ago
  The moon is being continually boosted by the rotation of the earth. The moon's gravity causes tides on the earth's surface. However, the shape of the earth is slightly ahead of being directly lined up with the moon because of inertia and sloshing. That uneven earth shape exerts a slightly uneven pull on the moon which increases its angular velocity around the earth, and slows down the angular velocity of the earth's rotation. .--~~~--. ^ / <- \ | | Earth | O Moon \ -> / '--___--' Note, the bulge of the earth is slightly exaggerated in this diagram, and the moon is further away on this scale. In effect, the rotation of the earth is dragging the moon around faster (which causes it to move further from the earth and go slower).
dandelany 12y ago
That's one non-biologist's initial guess, by no means a tested theory, and certainly not backed by enough evidence yet to say "probably". Seems much more likely that it's a case of contamination - this plankton lives in the belly of shrimps and other seafood. Shrimp are one of the ISS astronauts' favorite foods. All it takes is one astronaut not washing his hands after eating and before putting on his gloves to cause contamination. If the bacteria are alive, this is definitely the basis for an interesting study re: extremophiles. But the "uplifting air currents" statement is just speculation at this point.

by ejr 12y ago

washedup 12y ago

And there must be enough to keep heavier particles lifted up that high.

narag 12y ago

So they also survived an impact with the orbitting station at 9 km/s? I don't think so.

guard-of-terra 12y ago
They don't have to survive for you to find traces.
- DanBC 12y ago
  The article is unclear whether these organisms are alive or not. > Results of the scope of scientific experiments which had been conducted for a quite long time were summed up in the previous year, confirming that some organisms can live on the surface of the International Space Station (ISS) for years amid factors of a space flight, such as zero gravity, temperature conditions and hard cosmic radiation. Several surveys proved that these organisms can even develop.
  - alexyes 12y ago
    Unlikely to be alive
  - TeMPOraL 12y ago
    So basically the Earth is a life-covered rock that spits organisms to hundreds of kilometers from its surface. This is just awesome!
    - jerf 12y ago
      Panspermia is a theory for a reason. As an explanation for life on Earth itself it has a challenge ahead of it, but due to the small amounts of life that Earth is known to be flinging about it's a known fact that Earth life has landed on the other planets. (Or at least their corpses, but it seems reasonably likely that some of it would survive the trip in some form of stasis or spore, given how resilient we know microscopic life can be.) If life is ever found on Mars, the next question to be asked after identification is, "is it related to Earth life?" Which we'd check by checking certain of the parameters of life on Earth that do not seem to be "forced" by physics, but are universal on Earth (how DNA codes for proteins, for instance). If they all matched up, it would strongly suggest one single common origin... though that origin could conceivably be on Mars. Interestingly, this also means that if the Solar System is still otherwise sterile despite the arrival of Earth life, that has interesting implications of its own.
akiselev 12y ago
If the bacteria floated up to LEO (which is very possible) the impact was likely in the meters/second range because it would have had to match the orbit closely enough. Because bacteria are so small (and the filaments they use to support the cell membrane is so strong) it would take an extreme impact to "splatter" them. Remember also that archaeic bacteria (as well as simple multicellular organisms) live on the bottom of oceans like the Mariana Trench where the pressure is over 1,000 atmospheres (enough to turn you into a miniature hockey puck).
- narag 12y ago
  If the bacteria floated up to LEO... LEO is not a place.

lotsofmangos 12y ago

This may well be the reason, however keep in mind that the daily mail is generally held to be less reliable a source than throwing darts at a dictionary.

mkonecny 12y ago

Would the moon ever need a "boost"? Even though it's probably not hitting any air molecules from Earth, it's still colliding with tons of space debris a day.

adrianN 12y ago
The moon is actually moving away from the earth.
mnw21cam 12y ago
The moon is being continually boosted by the rotation of the earth. The moon's gravity causes tides on the earth's surface. However, the shape of the earth is slightly ahead of being directly lined up with the moon because of inertia and sloshing. That uneven earth shape exerts a slightly uneven pull on the moon which increases its angular velocity around the earth, and slows down the angular velocity of the earth's rotation. .--~~~--. ^ / <- \ | | Earth | O Moon \ -> / '--___--' Note, the bulge of the earth is slightly exaggerated in this diagram, and the moon is further away on this scale. In effect, the rotation of the earth is dragging the moon around faster (which causes it to move further from the earth and go slower).

dandelany 12y ago

That's one non-biologist's initial guess, by no means a tested theory, and certainly not backed by enough evidence yet to say "probably". Seems much more likely that it's a case of contamination - this plankton lives in the belly of shrimps and other seafood. Shrimp are one of the ISS astronauts' favorite foods. All it takes is one astronaut not washing his hands after eating and before putting on his gloves to cause contamination. If the bacteria are alive, this is definitely the basis for an interesting study re: extremophiles. But the "uplifting air currents" statement is just speculation at this point.