Abstract

Panspermia is a topic that has provoked much controversy throughout the years and has become important recently with the possible discovery of fossilized bacteria on a Martian meteorite. While there are many different proposed versions of panspermia, the most feasible is that of lithopanspermia, or the transport of life via meteorites or comets. There are many hurdles microbial life on a meteorite must go through in order to colonize another planet: getting off the planet without dying, surviving the length of time it takes to reach a new planet, surviving the harsh conditions of deep space (including freezing cold and UV rays) and then landing on the new planet unharmed and proceeding to colonize it. Despite all these hurdles, however, the results of many studies show that it is possible that panspermia could occur, whether or not it has…at least between planets. The case of interstellar panspermia is trickier, and for the moment, at least, it looks as though that would be almost impossible. The case of the Martian Meteorite ALH84001 has gained a lot of attention lately (and there are many skeptics), but even if it doesn’t actually contain fossilized life, that doesn’t disprove the theory of panspermia. We have concluded that panspermia between planets in a solar system is, in fact possible, though it probably could not occur between solar systems.

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