Algae survives extended exposure to space

Brian G Turner

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Another tickbox for the idea that life can spread through space, seeding any suitable worlds it might comes across, as an experiment on the ISS shows that at least one species of algae can survive unharmed when exposed directly to space for a long period:

Primitive plants survive almost two years in outer space
 
That certainly lends credence to the Panspermia theory, but the distances between "Goldilocks" planets are so vast, and the time Life has been present on Earth, still so small...
 
Hm... the algae was on board the ISS, which is still within the Earth's magnetosphere i.e. protected from the full dose of the Sun's radiation. Also the temperatures are not quite as low as is found in the outer reaches of the Solar System. That said, it certainly is a step in the right direction to proving the panspermia idea is a reality...
 

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