There ’s a controversial theory concerning the ancestry of biography on Earth , which submit that the first microbes to appear on the planet make it as passengers on a meteorite . Known aspanspermia , this theory depends on the ability of tiny organisms to survive colossal impacts , which is why a team of researcher recently screen whether or nottardigradescan withstand being fired out of a gun at high-pitched speed .
Also know as H2O bear , tardigrade are the complete candidate for such an experimentation , given that they areable to survivebeing boiled orfrozen , and are unphased by cosmic radiation , low oxygen environment , gamy force per unit area , or even the vacuity of space . Whether or not they can avoid being splatter when smash - landing place on anew major planet , however , persist a burning question .
To provide an answer , scientists loaded small numbers of tardigrades into nylon bullets , which were frozen in fiat to induce the tiny critters into a hibernation res publica known as tun . write in the journalAstrobiology , the study authors explain how they fired their living munition into a grit target at a range of hurrying , before attempting to revive the tardigrades from their tun .
“ This probe tested whether tardigrades can survive in impact distinctive of those that occur naturally in the Solar System , ” they write . “ We found that they can survive impacts up to 0.9 kilometer [ per second ] , which is equivalent to 1.14 grade point average shock air pressure , but can not survive impacts above this . ”
Though telling , such a solvent is not good word for exponent of the panspermia premiss , as quad impacts broadly speaking go past this stage of stupor pressure . As such , the authors conclude that “ arrival of a tardigrade on Earth , for example by way of a meteorite encroachment , is not likely to be a workable means of a successful transfer even for suchhardy organisms . ”
However , the researchers do n’t go as far as to rule out panspermia entirely , as they observe that tiny organisms could potentially be channelise from the Earth to the Moon on materials that might be thrown into space following a collision between a meteorite and our planet . While the majority of the ejecta to gain the Moon would in all likelihood be traveling too fast for tardigrade to survive the journeying , the study authors estimate that around 40 per centum of this material could impact the Moon gently enough for some individual to endure .
A similar outcome could happen as a result of wallop ejecta from Mars reaching the major planet ’s Sun Myung Moon Phobos , though the research worker say that the chances of endurance are middling low in this scenario .
[ H / T : Science Magazine ]
