Philae Comet explorer with its ten year voyage of the European Space Agency
said in a public forum royal national astronomy this is a first. Here is a
probe sitting on alien environment life beneath it surface. The Comet Lander
Philae may be sitting on an object teeming with alien microbial life, according
to two leading astronomers. Distinct features of the comet
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, such as its organic-rich black crust, are best
explained by the presence of living organisms beneath an icy surface, they
claim. Rosetta, the European space craft orbiting the comet, is also said to
have picked up strange “clusters” of organic material that look suspiciously
like viral particles.
However, neither Rosetta nor its lander are equipped to search for direct
evidence of life after a proposal to include this in the mission was allegedly
laughed at as a question.
Images show two conjoined asteroids, as how little is known.
Astronomer and astral biologist Prof Chandra Wickramasinghe, who was involved
in the planning of the mission 15 years ago, said “I wanted to include a very
inexpensive life-detection experiment. At the time, it was thought this was a
bizarre proposition.” He and colleague Dr Max Wallis, from the University of
Cardiff, believe 67P and other comets like it could provide homes for living
microbes similar to the “extreme-ophiles” that inhabit the most inhospitable
regions of the Earth. Comets may have helped to sow the seeds of life on Earth and
possibly other planets such as Mars early in the life of the solar system, they
argue.
As astronomers present their case for life on 67P at the Royal Astronomical
Society’s National Astronomy meeting in Llandudno, Wales. Philae made history
last November after detaching from its Rosetta mother ship and bouncing down on
to the surface of the comet, coming to rest close to a cliff or crater wall.
After being forced into hibernation by the lack of sunlight reaching its solar
panels, the probe has delighted scientists by “waking up” as the comet races
towards the sun. The comet, which has been described as looking like a “rubber
duck”, has two lobes joined by a thinner neck and measures around 4km across.
Currently it is about 284 million kilometers from Earth and travelling at more
than 117,000kph. Prof Wickramasinghe and Dr Wallis have carried out computer
simulations that suggest microbes could inhabit watery regions of the comet.
Images show two conjoined asteroids, as how little is known.
Astronomer and astral biologist Prof Chandra Wickramasinghe, who was involved
in the planning of the mission 15 years ago, said “I wanted to include a very
inexpensive life-detection experiment. At the time, it was thought this was a
bizarre proposition.” He and colleague Dr Max Wallis, from the University of
Cardiff, believe 67P and other comets like it could provide homes for living
microbes similar to the “extreme-ophiles” that inhabit the most inhospitable
regions of the Earth. Comets may have helped to sow the seeds of life on Earth and
possibly other planets such as Mars early in the life of the solar system, they
argue.
