Earth Life Possibly Could Reach Titan

dylanduck writes "New simulations show that big asteroid impacts on Earth could have sent about 600 million boulders flying into space. About 100 have reached Jupiter's moon Europa - but they landed at 24 miles/sec. 'This must be rather frustrating if you're a bacterium that survived launch from Earth,' says a researcher. But 30 boulders from each impact reach Titan - and they land gently." From the article: "'I thought the Titan result was really surprising - how many would get there and how slowly they'd land,' Treiman told New Scientist. 'The thing I don't know about is if there are any bugs on Earth that would be happy living on Titan.' Titan's surface temperature is a very cold -179C and its chemistry is very different from Earth's."

Comments

Your points are moot.

[technoextreme]

That's a tough bug. The temperature isn't such a big deal and time isn't either, as there are bacteria found in Antarctica which were left over from when it was more temperate. Tough bugs, sure, but traveling through space also means withstanding the full bore radation of Mr. Sun, with no atmosphere to protect you. I'm not sure I want to meet one of these in a dark alley. From the article: "'I thought the Titan result was really surprising - how many would get there and how slowly they'd land,' Treiman told New Scientist. 'The thing I don't know about is if there are any bugs on Earth that would be happy living on Titan.' Titan's surface temperature is a very cold -179C and its chemistry is very different from Earth's."

http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_saltlovers _050721.html First thing I searched for is bacteria and radiation lovers. They are life forms on earth that can survive this type of conditions. Also, it is a fact that bacteria survived on the moon for three years during the Apollo missions.

Ok, I'll bite, how do they know they came from Earth rather than, say were asteroids? A lot of asteroids look like they broke away from something as they're irregular in shape, perhaps there's other likely origins. But this has gone from 'could have' to did without convincing me. After all, we see supposed martian rock on earth. Who's really to say that those martian rocks broke from Mars, rather than are the stuff Mars is made up of and some of it landed on Earth, or some other theory.

Ummm.. It's a simulation. They didn't actually discover the rocks. They didn't see any evidence. They just did the math. All they said is that they know that this stuff got shot into space and they figured out that it can reach Titan.

Re:I'm scared

[Expert Determination]

The fact that we have determined these things hit Earth makes them no more likely to hit Earth. I say we carry on ignoring them like we did before anyone had any clue such a thing could happen.

If fungus can grow on the outside of Mir...

[Dukeofshadows]

...why shouldn't bacteria from Earth be able to grow on Titan? Microbes are amazingly hardy organisms, they can thrive as chemotrophs at the bottom of the ocean near volcanic vents or in other incredibly hot temperatures (one such microbe has an enzyme that lets biologists amplify DNA for legal and research purposes). If they can survive the extremes of air, ocean depth, and heat, why not those of cold and darkness?

Re:If fungus can grow on the outside of Mir...

[EZLeeAmused]

Don't forget that the microbes that live in extreme conditions got there by gradual adaptation. There were once a bunch of microorganisms that could survive in a zone 100 yards to 500 yards from a volcanic vent. Some of those were a little hardier, so they could survive 90 yards from the vent, and so on. But move some of those to a tidepool and they will almost certainly die. For Earth bacteria to live on Titan, they must have lived somewhere with conditions at least a little like Titan, close enough that at least one could survive the differences. And differences in environmental chemistry aside, a microbe from Antarctica (coldest temperature -89 degrees celsius, and that's a record, not an average) would have a hard time thriving on Titan at around 90 degrees colder. Not impossible, but I'd feel safe betting the family fortune against it.

Re:Dinosaurs in Space

[LiquidCoooled]

I could imagine something like a geode crystal managing to stay warm and moist in outer space, hell we could discover at the very heart of Halley is an entire ecosystem which comes alive once every 76 years like flowers in the desert.

We just never get close enough to see it bloom.

One thing -

[Kittie Rose]

People are also only pointing out animals we know exist being on those boulders. It's entirely possible there were many more species hundreds of millions of years ago that were as resiliant as the "Water Bear" towards harsh conditions, but suffered some other short coming that lead to their extinction on Earth.

Re:Airborne bacteria?

[linguizic]

Wouldn't it be something if everyone stopped dodging the most likely possibillity that life started on this planet?

Re:Airborne bacteria?

[ArkonChakravanti]

First off, I tend to agree with you and I think life did start here, but...

Given how hard it is for life to start on a planet, how can you say this is the most likely possibility?
Maybe it is (talking about the odds) more likely that we evolved from some bacteria that somehow found it's way here...

Re:Airborne bacteria?

[linguizic]

Panspermia is just a dodge. For some reason people can't believe that here on earth, where life as we know it has done better by far than anyother place that we know of, could possibly have been where life originated. The probabillity of life evolving somewhere else and then being magically whisped away to earth is even MORE improbable than life originating here. Just because something that we know has happened is improbable doesn't mean we have to completely throw all of the most probable scenarios for it to happen out the window.