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Space Lichens
moon_monkey writes "According to a report lichens - a composite of algae and fungi - can survive in space for up to two weeks. An experiment carried out by the European Space Agency saw two species of lichen carried into orbit and then exposed to the vacuum of space for nearly 15 days. These are the most complex form of life now known to have survived prolonged exposure to space. The experiment adds weight to the theory of panspermia - that life could somehow be transported between planets."
I thought panspermia came from flute playing goats.
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Sounds like a neat theory, but it'd have to be an absolutely killer climax to have it hit escape velocity. I can't usually get more than 7-8 feet of distance even on a pent-up, high-pressure day.
I for one, welcome out new space-faring algae lichens. As a D&D player I've seen what regular lich can do, but I was unaware of their resistances to space. I truely am scared and confused.
FTA:
"Lichens have a tough mineral coating that could shield them from UV rays. They are also made from individual organisms layered on top of one another, so outer layers may provide protection for underlying cells. The organisms have already been shown to be capable of withstand high levels of UV radiation on Earth."
This is interesting, I wonder how well they the outer layers could protect things below? Would it be possible to use some lichen in a pinch to make a repair to part of a ship? Could this be the poor mans self-replicating nano robot patch kit?
I have no idea about these things, just an interesting prospect, I think.
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr. Seus
"Up to two weeks?"
No, "At *least* two weeks". They were exposed for 15 days and were unchanged.
Lichen and spores are sure durable; I wouldn't be surprised if they could survive basically indefinitely in a cold vacuum.
Question: How long can a human stay in space without a space suit?
Answer: Almost indefinitely <evil grin>
Everybody Lies. But it doesn't matter since nobody listens.
This space lichen corpse tastes terrible! You finish eating the space lichen corpse.
Q: What did the comedian say to the crowd?
A: If I knew, this joke would be funny.
From answers.com citing the American Heritage Dictionary,
... no hint of interplanetary relations by the root words.
the etymology of panspermia:
Greek panspermia;, mixture of all seeds : pan-, pan- + sperma, seed
What I get from this is that lichens can survive for an undetermined amount of time in space. Assuming they can survive reentry, a rock from Earth could potentially deliver lichens to Mars or elsewhere.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
They likely brought it into space in order to determine whether or not it could survive not just in a vaccuum, but also under these conditions, all at the same time:
* Vaccuum. (Of course.)
* Assorted forms of radiation.
* Zero gravity.
* Extremes of temperature.
Those conditions tend not to support life from Earth, and so to see that lichen can indeed survive in space, if only for a short time, is astounding. Not only does this add weight to the panspermia theory, but it also could stand to change our take on the 'qualifications' for a habitable environment completely, raising questions such as, "Could it be possible for more complex organisms to actually thrive in space?"
I for one welcome our moldy overlords.
What I've never understood about that theory, though, is how the life forms got off their home planet and onto an interstellar-bound rock.
John
Oh wait...
...both interiorlly, and exteriorlly.
"Lichens grow in the leftover spots of the natural world that are too harsh or limited for most other organisms. They are pioneers on bare rock, desert sand, cleared soil , dead wood, animal bones, rusty metal, and living bark. Able to shut down metabolically during periods of unfavorable conditions, they can survive extremes of heat, cold, and drought."
2 0soldier%20lichen.jpg
From: http://www.lichen.com/biology.html
They tend to thrive in unfavorable conditions, maybe there could be Lichen on Mars if it had a more stable atmosphere? They could also survive on a rusty hull of a space ship, so the panspermia theory is not too far off.
British Soldier Lichen is also very beautiful:
http://www.buenavistatownship.org/Photos/British%
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
So, The Terrible Secret of Space is... athlete's foot? That was sort of anticlimactic.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Rockets maybe... What better way to make absolutely clear to any intelligent life on another planet that there is life where you are from than hucking some of it at them?
...it goes on forever. And...Oh my God!...It's full of lichens!
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Not the same thing. The mold you're talking about in MIR would have been in the crew compartment, which, unless there's something I don't know about Russians, wouldn't have been a vacuum. The lichens discussed in the article were in a sealed container that, once the craft was in space, was opened. So they were completely exposed to the vacuum of space.
"Organisms in small asteroids would be incinerated in earth's atmosphere"
No, you're wrong.
"As it falls through 80 km, it loses 3 to 6 mm of surface mass per second through ablation. The melted material and metal, heated to over 1800 C, is being swept away from the meteoroid, carrying away the accumulating surface heat so efficiently that the interior remains cool."
That was from meteorlab.com. Look it up so that next time you won't be spreading incorrect information.
How pathetic are you that you follow me from topic to topic and waste all your mod points at once modding me down?
Substances like water, carbon, and oxygen are neat because they seem to be the most condusive to forming complex substances that make up the organic components of the bodies of living things. It's silly to think that there aren't living things that can exist without water, though. Or carbon. Or oxygen.
Theories about the possible environments wherein living things could exist are endless. Looking at the extremophilic algae and tube worms - That was the name you were looking for, I believe - here on Earth, we could see similar creatures living in the hot, highly acidic, CO2 rich environments of Venus. Lichens and other organisms tailored to exist only on the essentials, on the other hand, could thrive - and may actually exist - on Mars. (And if Mars was once like Earth, that theory certainly takes off, doesn't it?) Of course, those schools of thought only support organisms akin to the ones that exist here on Earth.
Meanwhile, the moons of Jupiter and Saturn provide a plethora of environments known to support life on Earth in some cases, but there are also theories that organisms could exist in the extreme cold of some of these celestial bodies by catalyzing acetylene and other volatile substances at extremely slow rates. If that theory were to pan out, then the idea of 'ice creatures from outer space' might not be too far off - and possibly a springboard for dozens of cheesy new sci-fi movies. (It'd certainly beat Spielburg's take on 'War of the Worlds'.)
While we're discussing theoretical models for living things unlike those that exist here on Earth, let's take a look at what we're made of - that all-important element carbon, I'm no chemistry expert, but doesn't boron nitride behave in a remarkably similar fashion to carbon? What about the possibility of a boron-based group of organisms? Or maybe plants and animals composed of different substances entirely? When one begins to consider the possibilities, it becomes immediately evident that they are indeed virtually endless.
The void of space may indeed host living things. Other worlds thought to be uninhabitable may also support life as well. I agree that it'd be pretty silly to disregard that possibility until we can conclusively prove that life simply can't thrive in these environments. Heck, maybe there's some kind of lichen out in some nebula somewhere, feeding off of plasma... Who knows.
My biology teacher told me that life was designed by an intelligent designer who can do anything. If he wanted lichen to sprout rocket engines and fly between the stars he could do that too. That's why science is a pointless subject to study and I'll just get back to my cow tipping here in Kansas...
Terrestrial bacteria were found to have survived for three years of lunar exposure. Apollo 12 Commander Pete Conrad who retrieved the camera from which these bacteria were cultured thinks this discovery is the, "most significant thing that we ever found," in the entire Apollo program.
p 98_1.htm
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast01se
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
I would hazard to guess the odds of ejecta striking another planet at much worse than 1:1,000,000. Be that as it may, if I were given a gun that could shoot 1 billion bullets in the stadium, and I fired those bullets randomly while blindfolded, I would be very surprised Not to have hit the target a few decades later when I expended all of my bullets. Just the same with the example of a planet ejecting material over the millenia. It is highly unlikely for any one rock to hit anything, however the odds of one out of an astronomical number of rocks to hit another planet becomes significantly more plausible.
Lichen are tough. We all knew that. What we didn't know was how tough - this is incredible news. 15 days exposed in LEO and the samples were still viable? That indicates, to me, that lichen not only "happen" to be able to survive in space, but that the base organism evolved in space and transported to Earth continually until conditions allowed it to survive here. The description of lichen as protected by minerals in exo would indicate that they are capable of forming protected mats and still photosynthesize. The abstract didn't cover it all, did the lichen hibernate or photosynthesize? I'm not sure, but the basic survival fact is huge evidence in support of panspermia, universal left-handed chirality and biology as a basic element of the universe.
Photos from Mars show patches of greenish-brown and blue-green on rocks, cliffs and in low-lying (higher pressure) regions. The Deep Impact mission showed almost 1/3rd the mass of the comet as carbonaceous material, the researchers claim it is prebiotic. Photos from both Viking I (Gil Levin photo) and both MER rovers show "fuzzy" greenish rocks and fine filamented structures. If lichen survive in open space, they would be that much more at home in a fluffy growing medium that contains lots of water, and with a few archaea in the mix would produce exactly the compounds found in comet Tempel 1.
I've always agreed with the tenets of panspermia, the last few months of space science has convinced me. There is life out there, and a lot of it.
Josh
Fun note: the craft that flew the BIOPAN experiment is a Foton capsule, a direct decendant of the capsule Yuri Gagarin flew in. It is a round metal ball with a donut of equipment on the back and some antennae, same layout with somewhat newer gear.
gigantino.tv - Heavy but weighs nothing.
Only an intelligent designer could have calculated the trajectories and orbits necessary to spread life between planets. Especially given the limited computers available at the time of creation.
Vuja De: That sinking feeling that this is going to happen again. Often occurs in meetings with Product Managers.