Searching for extrasolar biosignatures is important to understand life on Earth and its origin. Astronomical observations of exoplanets may find such signatures, but it is difficult and may be impossible to claim unambiguous detection of life by remote sensing of exoplanet atmospheres. Here, another approach is considered: collecting grains ejected by asteroid impacts from exoplanets in the Milky Way and then travelling to the Solar System. The optimal grain size for this purpose is around 1 μm, and though uncertainty is large, about 105 such grains are expected to be accreting on Earth every year, which may contain biosignatures of life that existed on their home planets. These grains may be collected by detectors placed in space, or extracted from Antarctic ice or deep-sea sediments, depending on future technological developments.

In this work, we study the passage through the Martian atmosphere of micrometeorites with a white soft mineral (WSM) composition, which have been proposed as transporters of organic molecules in the solar system. The atmospheric entry model includes the dynamics of the atmospheric entry and the physico-chemical aspects of the thermal decomposition process. The results show that, due to the reduced entry speed, Mars may have been a promising collector of matter in this form. In particular, the chemical decomposition process is much more effective than in the case of the Earth's atmosphere in maintaining a moderate temperature of the micrometeorite during most of the entry process.

It is shown that a mechanism involving only random motion of the sun with respect to the surrounding star field can account for the ~1 per 25 Myr characteristic frequency of large cometary impacts on Earth. In the proposed mechanism, the sun travels through the Oort Cloud of an encounter star, most typically a Type M dwarf, while the dwarf flies through the Oort cloud of our Sun. As a result, Oort Cloud objects from our Solar System are precipitated in large numbers to impact planets in the dwarf star system, while the dwarf's Oort Cloud objects are destabilized to impact planets in our Solar System. It is shown that it is this exchange of Oort cloud object between stellar systems, rather than the precipitation of Oort Cloud objects within a stellar system, that can account for the apparent periodicity of mass extinctions. Because the sun is more massive than ~90% of stars, its Oort cloud extends further, resulting in it delivering about a factor of three more bombardments on other solar systems than our Solar System receives. About 60% of the bombardments on our Solar System are found to be delivered by Type M dwarfs, about 20% by type K dwarfs, with the remaining 20% being delivered by stars of type G or larger. Foreign star Oort cloud objects can be captured by our Sun at typical ranges of 10 AU, resulting in a cometary approach to perihelion within a few years. It is found that assuming an effective Oort Cloud radius of 40 000 AU for a star of solar mass, increasing in size with the square root of the mass, accounts for the observed characteristic frequency of mass extinction events on Earth, given the local stellar number density of 0.003 stars per cubic light year. The frequency of mass extinction events in other solar systems would increase or decrease in linear proportion to the local stellar number density. It is shown that this exchange of materials between solar systems during close stellar encounters could be an important mechanism for spreading life throughout the galaxy. Implications for the evolution of life on Earth and in other solar systems are discussed.

In this paper, anhydrous calcium sulphate CaSO4 (anhydrite) is considered as a carrier material for organic matter delivery from Space to Earth. Its capability of incorporating important fractions of water, leading to different species like bassanite and gypsum, as well as organic molecules; its discovery on Mars surface and in meteorites; the capability to dissipate much energy by its chemical decomposition into solid (CaO) and gaseous (SO3) oxide, make anhydrite a very promising material in an astrobiological perspective. Since chemical cooling has been recently considered by some of the present authors for the case of Ca/Mg carbonates, CaSO4 can be placed into a class of ‘white soft minerals’ (WSM) of astrobiological interest. In this context, CaSO4 is evaluated here by using the atmospheric entry model previously developed for carbonates. The model includes grain dynamics, thermochemistry, stoichiometry, radiation and evaporation heat losses. Results are discussed in comparison with MgCO3 and CaCO3 and show that sub-mm anhydrite grains are potentially effective organic matter carriers. A Monte Carlo simulation is used to provide distributions of the sulphate fraction as a function of altitude. Two-zone model results are presented to support the isothermal grain hypothesis.

We study the prospects for life on planets with subsurface oceans, and find that a wide range of planets can exist in diverse habitats with ice envelopes of moderate thickness. We quantify the energy sources available to these worlds, the rate of production of prebiotic compounds, and assess their potential for hosting biospheres. Life on these planets is likely to face challenges, which could be overcome through a combination of different mechanisms. We estimate the number of such worlds, and find that they may outnumber rocky planets in the habitable zone of stars by a few orders of magnitude.

Faced with a choice between attempting to seed another world with terrestrially-sourced microbes (with which we would have a shared origin) and microbes sourced from elsewhere within the solar system (whose origins might therefore differ), would we have any non-instrumental ethical reason to favour the terrestrial microbes? What follows will argue that in relation to the goals of promoting life similar to our own, or even simply microbial life, we might conceivably make such an appeal and do so in a defensible manner. However, in no case would such a consideration operate as a silencer for rival considerations (such as likelihood of success, enhancing diversity or historical justice). The thought experiment serves to highlight the diversity of considerations which are in play in ethical deliberation about matters of astrobiology and the role of practical wisdom rather than trumping considerations.

The question of the origin of life interested people for centuries. All existing views on this subject can be classified into different areas of human knowledge about the world: natural sciences, philosophy, and theology (religion). It is interesting to look at them closer and to classify all the typical groups of the theories about the origins of life. We can then see links existing between them and relationships that indicate their own nature. Nowadays, driving forces of prebiological chemical evolution and the mode of explanation of the transition ‘non-life into life’ give a great variety of solutions. The differences between the theories, however, as well as the current controversies in the scientific community (what ‘in the beginning’ was?; where and when the prebiotic evolution may took place? etc.) will be shown as of secondary importance for the theories’ systematization in comparison with several much more profound philosophical assumptions underlying the origin-of-life-studies. My proposal to organize and classify different types of the theories of genesis of life allows for extracting conceptions of different kind: metaphysical and scientific, and also for comparing them with each other. Some of them answer the question of the emergence of life in general and others on the question of the origin of life on the Earth only. In the perspective of contemporary scientific research on the origin of life it seems interesting that two main ideas concerning the problem of the origin of life, spontaneous generation and panspermia, are still present as presuppositions of certain theories but have been modified. Thus a ‘philosophical key’ seems to be the most appropriate to systematize all kinds of theories on the origin of life. This paper is an attempt to justify the position adopted. Most important conclusion is that the philosophical basis or implications, which are irreducibly present and possible to be found within the scientific theories of the origin of life, indicates that this problem is not just the strictly scientific one; it is the philosophical problem, too; thus it cannot be fully solved merely through referring to the empirical aspect of biogenesis.

Carbonate minerals, likely of hydrothermal origins and included into orthopyroxenite, have been extensively studied in the ALH84001 meteorite. In this meteorite, nanocrystals comparable with those produced by magnetotactic bacteria have been found into a carbonate matrix. This leads naturally to a discussion of the role of such carbonates in panspermia theories. In this context, the present work sets the basis of a criterion to evaluate whether a carbonate matrix in a meteor entering a planetary atmosphere would be able to reach the surface. As a preliminary step, the composition of carbonate minerals in the ALH84001 meteorite is reviewed; in view of the predominance of Mg in these carbonates, pure magnesite (MgCO3) is proposed as a mineral model. This mineral is much more sensitive to high temperatures reached during an entry process, compared with silicates, due to facile decomposition into MgO and gaseous carbon dioxide (CO2). A most important quantity for further studies is therefore the decomposition rate expressed as CO2 evaporation rate J (molecules/m2 s). An analytical expression for J(T) is given using the Langmuir law, based on CO2 pressure in equilibrium with MgCO3 and MgO at the surface temperature T. Results suggest that carbonate minerals rich in magnesium may offer much better thermal protection to embedded biological matter than silicates and significantly better than limestone, which was considered in previous studies, in view of the heat absorbed by their decomposition even at moderate temperatures. This first study can be extended in the future to account for more complex compositions, including Fe and Ca.

Astrobiology is a relatively recent scientific field that seeks to understand the origin and dynamics of life in the Universe. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain life in the cosmic context throughout human history, but only now, technology has allowed many of them to be tested. Laboratory experiments have been able to show how chemical elements essential to life, such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen combine in biologically important compounds. Interestingly, these compounds are ubiquitous. How these compounds were combined to the point of originating cells and complex organisms is still to be unveiled by science. However, our 4.5 billion years old Solar system appeared in a 10 billion years old Universe. Thus, simple cells such as micro-organisms may have had time to form in planets older than ours or in other suitable places in the Universe. One hypothesis related to the appearance of life on Earth is called panspermia, which predicts that microbial life could have been formed in the Universe billions of years ago, travelling between planets, and inseminating units of life that could have become more complex in habitable planets such as Earth. A project designed to test the viability of extremophile micro-organisms exposed to simulated extraterrestrial environments is in progress at the Carlos Chagas Filho Institute of Biophysics (UFRJ, Brazil) to test whether microbial life could withstand inhospitable environments. Radiation-resistant (known or novel ones) micro-organisms collected from extreme terrestrial environments have been exposed (at synchrotron accelerators) to intense radiation sources simulating Solar radiation, capable of emitting radiation in a few hours equivalent to many years of accumulated doses. The results obtained in these experiments reveal an interesting possibility of the existence of microbial life beyond Earth.

Recent studies confirm that bacteria exist in the stratosphere. It is generally assumed that these bacteria are exiting from Earth, although it is possible that some are incoming from space. Most stratospheric bacterial isolates belong to the spore-forming genus Bacillus, although non-spore formers have also been isolated. Theoretically, the smaller a bacterium is, the more likely it is to be carried from Earth to the stratosphere. Ultrasmall bacteria have been frequently isolated from Earth environments, but not yet from the stratosphere. This is an anomalous situation, since we would expect such small bacteria to be over represented in the stratosphere-microflora. Here, we show that ultrasmall bacteria are present in the environment on Earth (i.e. in seawater and rainwater) and discuss the paradox of why they have not been isolated from the stratosphere.

It is nearly 30 years since the first decisive evidence of microbial morphologies in carbonaceous chondrites was discovered and reported by Hans Dieter Pflug. In addition to morphology, other data, notably laser mass spectroscopy, served to confirm the identification of such structures as putative bacterial fossils. Recent examinations of cometary dust collected in the stratosphere and further studies of carbonaceous meteorites reaffirm the presence of putative microbial fossils. Since carbonaceous chondrites (particularly Type 1 chondrites) are thought to be extinct comets the data reviewed in this article provide strong support for theories of cometary panspermia.

With steadily mounting evidence that points to a cosmic origin of terrestrial life, a cultural barrier prevails against admitting that such a connection exists. Astronomy continues to reveal the presence of organic molecules and organic dust on a huge cosmic scale, amounting to a third of interstellar carbon tied up in this form. Just as the overwhelming bulk of organics on Earth stored over geological timescales are derived from the degradation of living cells, so it seems likely that interstellar organics in large measure also derive from biology. As we enter a new decade – the year 2010 – a clear pronouncement of our likely alien ancestry and of the existence of extraterrestrial life on a cosmic scale would seem to be overdue.

The interstellar absorption band centred on 2175 Å that is conventionally attributed to monodisperse graphite spheres of radii 0.02 μm is more plausibly explained as arising from biologically derived aromatic molecules. On the basis of panspermia models, interstellar dust includes a substantial fraction of biomaterial in various stages of degradation. We have modeled such an ensemble of degraded biomaterial with laboratory spectroscopy of algae, grass pigments, bituminous coal and anthracite. The average ulrtraviolet absorption profile for these materials is centred at 2175 Å with a full width at half maximum of 250 Å, in precise agreement with the interstellar extinction observations. Mid-infrared spectra also display general concordance with the unidentified interstellar absorption features found in a wide variety of astronomoical sources.

Tagish Lake meteorite, which fell in January 2000 in Canada, has provided a sample of pristine cosmic materials for laboratory studies. It is made up of loosely formed aggregates, making it one of the most friable carbonaceous chondrites. Its complex structure is composed of plaquettes of crystalized minerals, hexagon-shaped metals, chondrules and granules, all of which are embedded in a matrix of fine grains and fibril-like materials. Those components with sizes larger than 250 nm in diameter are affected to varying degrees by hydrothermal reactions, whereas the majority of smaller bodies (<350 nm in diameter) appear unscathed despite severe aqueous alterations on the parent body. A high population of granules (100–300 nm in diameter) consist of a wall (20–40 nm in thickness) and a larger core; the former is rich in organic elements, such as carbon, oxygen and sulfur, and the core contains Ni-Fe-Mg rich silicates. The organic matter has aromatic and aliphatic characteristics, and such evidence suggests that the granules may be the carriers of large organic species with distinct astrobiological implications.

As a result of irradiation by slow hydrogen and argon ions of saccharose, humic films having a fractal nature were produced. The use of hydrogen ions simulated roughly the interaction of low-energy solar wind protons with interplanetary dust grains which, in addition to organic and mineral dust, may include clumps of viable bacteria. The type of film generated by this experimental procedure could play a role in shielding the interior of micron-sized clumps from damaging ultraviolet and low-energy cosmic ray irradiation. We argue that such films may have played a role in processes that led to the initial origin of life, and following the emergence of life the same types of films (as, for instance, in biofilms surrounding cells) may have been modified by irradiation to offer protection to viable cells in the interior.

Liquid water in comets, once considered impossible, now appears to be almost certain. New evidence has come from the discovery of clay minerals in comet Tempel 1, which compliments the indirect evidence in aqueous alteration of carbonaceous chondrites. Infrared spectral indication of clay is confirmed by modelling data in the 8–40 μm and 8–12 μm wavebands on the basis of mixtures of clays and organics. Radiogenic heating producing liquid water cores in freshly formed comets appears more likely on current evidence for solar system formation. A second possibility investigated here is transient melting in comets in the inner solar system, where thin crusts of asphalt-like material, formed due to solar processing and becoming hot in the daytime, can cause melting of sub-surface icy material a few centimetres deep. Supposing comets were seeded with microbes at the time of their formation from pre-solar material, there would be plenty of time for exponential amplification and evolution within the liquid interior and in the transient ponds or lakes formed as the outer layers are stripped away via sublimation.

A study was undertaken to determine if amber, coal and clay samples contain bacteria, in relation to the possibility that rocks ejected from Earth might contain microorganisms capable of colonizing other planets. A technique for isolating bacteria from rocks was developed which excluded the possibility that any of the rock isolates resulted from contamination. Two species of Bacillus were found in the amber sample, and a species of the same genus was found in coal; bacilli were also commonly found in clay. It is concluded that species of the spore-forming genus Bacillus could therefore be ejected from Earth in these geological substrates and possibly be transferred elsewhere.

Viruses are the dominant form of genetically reproducing entities on Earth. Yet, viruses are mostly neglected in the context of astrobiology due to their non-living nature. In this discussion it is considered whether viruses are likely to be transferred within bacterial endospores to other planetary bodies through lithopanspermia. Interestingly, it seems possible that ecosystems of panspermial origin might yield biospheres in which viruses are absent. The evolutionary pathway of life in these systems might differ significantly from the path observed on Earth. We hypothesize that the difference in the two potential ways for the emergence of life, those being panspermial or local origin, on any certain planet could be clarified by analyzing the diversity of virosphere on the planet. The use of viruses as putative biomarkers is also discussed and studied.

Panspermia (‘seeds everywhere’) postulates that life naturally migrates through space. Laboratory studies of Panspermia often examine the survival of Earth's species under the conditions thought to occur during transfer through space. Much of this research has centred on bacteria, but here we consider seeds themselves. We simulated the extreme accelerations necessary for their hypothetical ejection from a planetary surface and the impacts associated with their arrival on another planet. Seeds of tobacco, alfalfa and cress were fired into water at speeds in the range 1–3 km s−1, corresponding to impact shock pressures of circa 0.24–2.4 GPa. No seeds remained intact and able to germinate, even at the lowest speeds. Although fragmentation occurred, even at 3 km s−1 the size of some of the fragments was about 25% that of the seeds. Thus, whilst the seeds themselves did not survive extreme shocks, a substantial fraction of their mass did and might successfully deliver complex organic materials after impact. These results are discussed with respect to ancient Panspermia and the potential of contemporary impacts to eject living organisms into space.