WHAT IS PANSPERMIA ?

Panspermia is said to be one of the possible ways for evolution of life on Earth. The theory of panspermia suggests that life did not originate on Earth, but instead came from space. The possibility that life originated here on Earth, but was supplemented by space-derived microorganisms also cannot be ruled out. Another variant of panspermia, “neopanspermia” refers to the contemporary arrival of life from space. The idea that life originated from space has a long history, while the theory of neopanspermia is relatively new. However, the entire concept of panspermia, in its modern guise is based on the seminal work of Sir Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe. Until recently most of the work on panspermia has been theoretical. However, there is now laboratory evidence to support the view that microbes can be transferred across the cosmos, and which suggests that, at this moment, life is entering the Earth’s atmosphere from space.

One might imagine that the proposition that life is incoming to Earth from space could be easily be demonstrated, simply by sampling space at a height above the Earth where there is no possibility of contamination from below. One also might have assumed that NASA or another space agency would have looked for the presence of microbes in near space and would have determined at what height above the Earth’s surface they eventually peter out. This has not happened. Surprisingly, despite all the billions spent of space research we still do not know how high the Earth’s biosphere extends into space, nor have answers been provided to the apparently simple question- are microorganisms present in near space?