[QUOTE]Lichen can survive the hostile conditions of space, according to a study published by a team of biologists, lending more support to the theory that life arrives on planets via near-Earth objects.
The study, published in the June 2012 issue of Astrobiology, details how the lichen was exposed to (and survived) electromagnetic and cosmic radiation, a space vacuum and extreme temperatures during the European Space Agency's (ESA) Expose-E mission. The paper says the significant findings provide evidence for the panspermia hypothesis that organisms travel from planet to planet on meteors and asteroids.
"We are exploring the limits of life," explains René Demets, a biologist at ESA. "These organisms go into a dormant state waiting for better conditions to arrive."
The mission launched in February 2008, with the European Technology Exposure Facility installed outside the International Space Station, and a follow-up mission was carried out in 2009. Both experiments lasted a year and a half.
Installed on the Exposure Facility were three trays -- two built to test the organisms' ability to survive in a space vacuum and up against electromagnetic radiation, cosmic ionising radiation and temperature change, and a third tray that simulated the atmospheric conditions on Mars' surface. Each tray had several compartments to increase the range of test samples. The trays were fitted with 8mm-thick windows that would expose the lichen to various elements.
The lids and valves of some tray compartments were opened when the mission began and left open for the duration. The tray replicating the Martian conditions, however, was kept closed.
In total, four million sets of data were gathered and only minor interfering elements were flagged up in the study, such as the effects of the shadow cast by the space station on the samples. It was found that following the lengthy test time the lichen not only survived its trip to space, but it continued to grow on its return to Earth.
"The results from the Expose-E mission's astrobiology experiments are exciting in that they test life's capacity to survive the harsh environment of outer space," says Sherry Cady, editor-in-chief of Astrobiology. "These kinds of activities are critical to the success of future missions for solar system exploration."
The study, which will be followed up by another test mission in 2013, stresses the importance of more space simulation facilities on the ground, such as the computer simulation carried out last year to uncover whether particles ejected from Earth would survive in the solar system. The authors also point out that investment in "a new generation of scientific long-duration, free-flying satellites" could speed up the study of life in the Universe, as the safety precautions and pre-planning associated with manned missions would be taken out of the equation. The fact that the lichen survived also suggests its UV-defences could be used in the development of sunscreen.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-06/25/lichen-survives-space[/url]
Good to see progress being made here. It was a surprise when lichen turned out to handle UV radiation as good as they did during the 05-07 experiment, and the initial results on the ISS stuff in 08-09 about dessication was really promising, so some more testing with them is rad. Be fun to see this in Astrobio when June's comes online.
(If you don't entirely follow- Panspermia is a hypothetical existence of life elsewhere in the universe, carried by various material like asteroids or the debris their impacts eject into space. To see if that's feasible, and because we're sadistic bastards, we sometimes take stuff on earth that's really durable and throw it into space to see if it dies. Lichen are turning out to be radical burly men with mushroom beards that can do anything, and stuff like nematodes suck and are losers who could not survive visiting their grandma.)
Also I know I bitch about people not taking science articles seriously but SPAAAAAAACE FUNGUS
[video=youtube;w5qoWoKpkzM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5qoWoKpkzM[/video]
before you know it we'll have goddamned space mexicans inhabiting our satellite orbits and stealing our jobs
[QUOTE=thatguyfosho;36493764]before you know it we'll have goddamned space mexicans inhabiting our satellite orbits and stealing our jobs[/QUOTE]
Im sorry, what does that have to do with anything pertaining to the article?
Fuck mycons yo.
Anyway, in all seriousness, this is pretty awesome.
Panspermia is just the delivery system, the secondary to abiogenesis.
4 million sets of data sounds really impressive.
Also, [I]fuck yeah lichen[/I]
It probably survives better than tardigrades, but tardigrades are still, well, tardigrades.
Wait... tardigrades live on lichens, right?
Now that I think about it, I guess it DOES make sense for a tardigrade's food to be able to survive the same conditions it does...
Don't mind me, just realizing something obvious.
Doesn't that mean aliens are real?
Lichen is such an amazing symbiotic relationship, and it's really pretty too!
[QUOTE=DELL;36494958]Doesn't that mean aliens are real?[/QUOTE]
No? It means it's more likely that life hypothetically could have arrived from space.
Even if such lichens could theoretically survive in the dark void, they'd never survive atmospheric entry if they're on the surface; they'd need to reside deep within the space-rock, deep enough for them not to be affected by the burning away of the outer layers.
Regardless, if we ever find a planet dominated by fungi and lichens, we are mandated by sheer honour to call the planet Yuggoth.
In order to evolve as a species, we should strive towards becoming more like lichen.
Maybe they arrived in little space ships, forgot who they were and turned into apathic rockfungi thingies.
[QUOTE=Chrille;36494976]No? It means it's more likely that life hypothetically could have arrived from space.[/QUOTE]
but then...who was space?
[QUOTE=Sleepy Head;36496358]but then...who was space?[/QUOTE]
Dan
[QUOTE=Scar;36497352]Dan[/QUOTE]
No, dan was boobies.
The first thing i thought of was spore
[QUOTE=Chrille;36494976]No? It means it's more likely that life hypothetically could have arrived from space.[/QUOTE]
Not even, necessarily. Wired sorta implied that, but this isn't that specific. We're just wondering if life could get somewhere on planetary ejecta. Whether or not life on earth got here from abroad is just as questionable as whether or not we're sending life [I]out.[/I]
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
