Discovering Life in Space
Cosmonauts Just Found Life in Space —
And Scientists Aren't Sure How It
Got There
Russian cosmonauts have discovered something remarkable clinging to the outside of the
International Space Station: living organisms.
The microscopic creatures
appeared during a space walk intended to clean the vessel's surface, and were
allegedly identified — incredibly — as a type of sea plankton. This is big:
According to Sploid
"Results of the
experiment are absolutely unique," Russian ISS Orbital Mission Chief
Vladimir Solovyev told the
ITAR-TASS News Agency. "This should be studied further."
Life in space: While not exactly alien life
forms, experts are having trouble explaining how the plankton ended up on the
station and survived — possibly
even grew and multiplied — 205 miles above Earth's surface. Some claim they were
carried there from the ocean by "uplifting air currents," according
to Sploid Mirror reports
the plankton are atypical for Baikanour, Kazakhstan, where the station
initially launched, meaning it's unlikely they were on its hull before it took
off.
Image Credit: AP
Sploid 's Jesus Díaz goes a step further:
He suggests
their appearance lends credence to the theory that "organic life may have
spread across space traveling on comets and asteroids." This
is less far-fetched than it seems: In 2012, Motherboard Atlantic Touted as the "first
animal to survive in space," this hardy microorganism boasts limbs,
"a mouth, a digestive tract … muscles" and a nervous system,"
according to the
film . Its ability to endure such harsh conditions has led scientists to
ponder whether it did, in fact, originate in space. In other words: An alien. So
let your imagination run wild. If tardigrades, sea plankton and other tiny organisms can survive
unsheltered in the vast expanses of space, who's to say their relatives — and
relatives' descendants — never populated or evolved on other worlds the same
way life on Earth came about. Scientists have much to
learn about the universe, but such findings mark exciting developments in the
ongoing search for extra-terrestrial life.
Martian mystery: What is odd
cell-like structure in Mars meteorite?
By Mike Wall
Scanning electron microscope image of a mysterious oval structure in
the Nakhla Mars meteorite.Elias
Chatzitheodoridis, Sarah Haigh and Ian Lyon
Scientists have found a
strange structure resembling a microbial cell inside a Martian meteorite , but they're not claiming that
it's evidence of Red Planet life. The researchers
discovered the microscopic oval object within the Nakhla Mars meteorite, which
fell to Earth in Egypt in 1911. While the structure's appearance is intriguing,
it most likely formed as a result of geological rather than biological
processes, team members said. "The consideration
of possible biotic scenarios for the origin of the ovoid structure in Nakhla
currently lacks any sort of compelling evidence," the scientists write in a
new study published this month in the journal Astrobiology.
"Therefore, based on the available data that we have obtained on the
nature of this conspicuous ovoid structure in Nakhla, we conclude that the most
reasonable explanation for its origin is that it formed through abiotic
processes." [The
Search for Life on Mars (A Photo Timeline) ]
A cell-like structure
The hollow ovoid is about
80 microns long by 60 microns wide , researchers said — far larger than most terrestrial
bacteria but in the normal size range for eukaryotic Earth microbes
(single-celled organisms that possess nuclei and other membrane-bound interior
"organelles"). The study team is confident that the object is native
to the sample and not the result of terrestrial contamination. The scientists studied
the structure using a number of different techniques, including electron
microscopy, X-ray analysis and mass spectrometry. This work revealed that the
ovoid is composed of iron-rich clay and contains a number of other minerals. The researchers run
through a number of possible formation scenarios in the new study, eventually
concluding that the ovoid most likely formed when materials partially filled in
a pre-existing vesicle — a vapor bubble, for example — in the rock. But this supposition
doesn't rule out the possibility that Martian lifeforms had something to do
with the structure, team members said. "Despite the
extremely biomorphic overall shape of the ovoid, it is highly unlikely that it
itself was an organism," said lead author Elias Chatzitheodoridis, of the
National Technical University of Athens in Greece. "However, it could
have been formed directly by micro-organisms, or it could trap organic material
that came from elsewhere," Chatzitheodoridis told Space.com via email.
"That the ovoid is hollow means that there is enough space to accommodate
colonies of microorganisms." Making a firm link to
Mars life would require further study and further discoveries, he added. "We would be happy
if we could have found more than one ovoid, with exactly the same texture both
in the micro and the nanoscale," Chatzitheodoridis said. "However, we
require to open up enough sample in a very careful way. Compelling evidence,
though, would be if we could really find many of the same, clearly in a form of
a colony, together with chemical and mineralogical biosignatures that are
common for terrestrial microbes."
Habitable Martian environments?
Nakhla is a well-studied
meteorite — scientists have spotted possible signs of Mars life within it before —and
previous research has mapped out its history in some detail. Nakhla's parent
rock apparently crystallized about 1.3 billion years ago, Chatzitheodoridis and
his colleagues write in the new study, then experienced two shock events that
heated it up considerably. The first of these shocks
likely occurred around 910 million years ago and the second 620 million years
ago. This latter event, which was triggered by a nearby meteorite strike on
Mars, apparently included the flow of hot water through Nakhla's parent outcrop,
the authors write. Finally, about 10 million years ago, another impact blasted
Nakhla free of Mars, sending it on a looping trip through space that ended with
its arrival at Earth in 1911. Whether or not the Nakhla
ovoid has some connection to Martian life, study of the meteorite can help
researchers better understand the Red Planet's past (and, perhaps, present) potential
to support life , Chatzitheodoridis said. Martian meteorites
contain "important information, and latest work has shown that now one has
to look more carefully at them and in finer detail," he told Space.com.
"In our case, it is
such work that allowed us to see from a small volume of sample a big story, i.e.,
that hydrothermal waters have actually acted also in the latest periods of
Martian history, even if they were caused by a bolide impact, and that they
were capable of initiating a number of complicated processes that resulted in
the formation of niche environments which can sustain life, if life [ever]
emerged on the planet," Chatzitheodoridis added.
For more information
about life in space see http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.com/search/label/panspermia
- Scroll down through ‘Older Posts’ at the end of each section
Hope you like this
not for profit site -
It takes hours of work every day by
a genuinely incapacitated invalid to maintain, write, edit, research,
illustrate and publish this website from a tiny cabin in a remote forest
Like what we do? Please give enough
for a meal if you can -
Contribute any amount and receive at
least one New Illuminati eBook!
Please click below -
Videos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7W194GQ6fHI http://youtu.be/2CFL6M_KB60
And see
DISGRUNTLED SITE ADMINS PLEASE NOTE –
We provide a live link to your original material on your site (and
links via social networking services) - which raises your ranking on search
engines and helps spread your info further! This site is
published under Creative Commons Fair Use Copyright (unless an individual
article or other item is declared otherwise by the copyright holder). Reproduction
for non-profit use is permitted & encouraged, - if you give attribution to the work &
author. Please include a (preferably active) link to the original (along with
this or a similar notice).
Feel free to make non-commercial hard (printed) or software copies or
mirror sites - you never know how long something will stay glued to the web –
but remember attribution!
If you like what you see, please send a donation (no amount is too
small or too large) or leave a comment – and thanks for reading this far…
Live long and prosper! Together we can create the best of all possible
worlds…
No comments:
Post a Comment
Add your perspective to the conscious collective