Just How Tough Is Earth Life? Tough Enough To Go Space And Still Thrive

Every time we send a spacecraft to another world, our Earth-based lifeforms are going with us. No matter how well we try to keep them clean, a few stowaways will always come along for the ride.

You’d think that years in the cold hard vacuum of space, suffering extreme temperature changes, and receiving brutal doses of radiation would be all it takes to sterilize any life caught on the outside of a lander or rover headed to Mars or Europa.

Well, think again. Life just demonstrated that it’s surprisingly ready to make the journey, and happy to get back to work the moment conditions improve.

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[John_Longbow]

Life can survive the vacum of space.... yet i can't manage to keep a few indoor plants alive 😂

[Gocast]

Wherever we find liquid water on earth: we find life
Wherever we find liquids containing ethanol on earth: we find human life 😉

[GameplayReviewUK]

Not only is the content of this video amazing, the images are awesome too. thanks for another great video :)

[klausgartenstiel]

even if i die in space, my e.coli will survive and travel onwards, inside my frozen husk, to one day discover a planet to thrive on and found a galactic empire.

a comforting thought.

[ChrisBrengel]

cool stuff!
Thanks for making the video!
I was crushed that there were no Tardigrades though... ;)

[BigHossHackworth]

Panspermia is seeming more and more possible.

[jamesrobinson]

That was a very exciting review of an amazing experiment. The more we find out about how simple life deals with space, the more likely it seems that there must be life elsewhere. I look forward to the day when we might find out that there is life in the waters of the icy moons. Then if we were to find that simple life can happen on multiple planets in one solar system, it seems so much more likely that it could be every where. Keep the videos coming.

[richardsleep]

It seems sensible to be concerned by the possiblity of contaminating space, but we've already done so. We don't know how life got started, and one version of Panspermia has life originating in space itself. Fascinating and thought-provoking, this deserves much wider viewing.

[Slotsofinfodumping]

I’m wondering if the live we find on Mars, could be life that our rovers left behind?

[davidwalker]

Did anybody else hear the background noise that sounded like the film Halloween... spooky

[MegaAwesomeNick]

Bouncer: Welcome to the Salty Spitoon. How tough are ye?
Lichen and moss: I survived in space for more than two years ...
Bouncer: That ain't so tough.
Lichen and moss: ...without a spacesuit.
Bouncer: Right this way, sir!

[stevewhoknowswhomisreallyw]

As always very intelligent and informative.
There is one in a side "glance" mention. The tardigrade. Amazing microscopic animal that is practically indestructible.
Would love to hear your take on these little dudes getting out there.

[lukasmakarios]

Now we know what to seed Mars with, when we decided to terraform it.

[willinwoods]

Thanks again for all the exciting and thought-provoking content on your channel! Kinda rambling multipart QUESTION: What role do you think the tilt of the rotational axis plays -- if any at all -- for the emergence of life and/or habitability of a planet? And more specifically: Can we tell if life on Earth has benefitted in any way from the seasonal changes resulting from the tilt, or is it just another circumstance for life to adapt to? Could we have done without seasons? I _would_ guess there is a maximum tilt beyond which circumstances would be harsh, but is there also a _lower_ limit in general for life to thrive -- and again: specifically for Earth, to still have noticeable seasons? Also: how about the (very) slight excentricity of Earths orbit; could we do as well with a perfectly circular orbit?

[ericthatcher]

So we could load up probes with these life forms and seed the galaxy with life. It might be the only way to ensure life continues, past our planet.

[bjarnes.]

I don't understand the commonly asked question:
"Where did the water on [Celestial Body] come from?"

Water is everywhere. We see it as ice on the polar craters of Mercury and the Moon, on Mars ice caps (and underground), on most gas giant moons and below the surface of many dwarf planets. In the Venusian Atmosphere, as well as in the Gas Giants (only tiny amounts though). And of course on Comets and on Earth.

Hydrogen and Oxygen are so common, so Water is too. Why do I hear this question so often?

[ilaribystrouska]

I agree that we should do our best to avoid contaminating the worlds we are searching for life on with Earth life. However, once we start trying to colonize these places, cross-contamination will be effectively unavoidable. Even if we have completely sealed habitats, and use hydroponics and the like to grow food without using local soil, or ship food in from off world, someone, somewhere, for some reason will skirt the decontamination procedures for entering and exiting the habitats, and then all bets will be off. It may be for something clandestine, or it may be for some sort of emergency repairs or rescue, but it will happen. The only way to avoid it would be to only send robots, and never bring samples back, and that is never going to happen. We instead need to try to prepare for when the cross-contamination of life happens, because if we send people to other worlds, it's inevitable.

[-dimar-]

How hard is it to build an artificial magnetic field on Mars, using current technology?

[murilokleine]

Maybe human curiosity is just part of Life's expansion/survival program.

[LordBitememan]

Hey, if they can survive I say ramp the experiment up to the next level: pick one of those ice shell moons out there, dump a few canisters of Earth bacteria into the ocean layers below, and see how well it thrives there.