- Despite the incredibly extensive study of the origins of life on Earth, we still do not know exactly how the first life forms on our planet were created.
- It is possible, say many scientists, that life on Earth could have originated elsewhere.
- Right now, the main candidate for a source of life that the Earth may have sown is our neighbor, Mars.
How did life on Earth begin? It seems like such a simple question, but because of the billions of years that have passed since the first life forms began to do their things on our planet, we just don’t know the answer. Life on our planet may have originated here, but it may just as likely originate elsewhere, such as Mars.
The scientific concept that life could extend organically from one planet to another is called panspermia and is not as wild as it might seem. We already know that the rocks of Mars have reached Earth because we found them here, but if ancient Mars hosted life, what are the probabilities that life on Earth is the direct result of the life forms that are are they extracted from Mars and sent at speed? to Earth?
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We have no way of proving that panspermia ever occurred. Earth is the only planet we know that has hosted life, so we have no way of knowing if it is a valid theory and also if panspermia is responsible for all of us being here today. In a recent interview with ViciHarvard astrophysics student Amir Siraj offers a very high-level overview of how panspermia can occur and the various ways in which it could sow life on other planets or even other stellar systems.
The events that would lead a planet like Mars to send life to Earth are actually very simple. A strong impact of an asteroid hitting the surface of a Mars rich in life could send rocks into space. Some of these rocks could end up in a collision course with the Earth, and if these rocks maintain microbial life, these small life forms could survive an impact on Earth, sowing our planet alive. .
Since we have already found pieces of Mars on Earth, we know that this type of interplanetary material exchange actually takes place, but we cannot know for sure whether Mars had life, much less whether or not that theoretical life traveled. .
Some more extreme theories of panspermia suggest that objects can graze the atmosphere of one planet, collect some microbes during the flyby, and quickly leave the solar system and finally reach another. If this microbial life survives the trip and the rock hits a habitable planet in another system, it could spread life similarly.
Right now, all of this is still totally theoretical, but that could change. If we find microbial life on Mars or evidence of past life, we will be left with the question of whether this life is really our ancient ancestor, or whether life developed on both Mars and Earth in the same billions of years. ‘years.