The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs may have catapulted life to Mars and the moons of Jupiter, US researchers say.
They calculated how many Earth rocks big enough to shelter life were ejected by asteroids in the last 3.5bn years.
The Chicxulub impact was strong enough to fire chunks of debris all the way to Europa, they write in Astrobiology.
Thousands of potentially life-bearing rocks also made it to Mars, which may once have been habitable, they add.
"We find that rock capable of carrying life has likely transferred from both Earth and Mars to all of the terrestrial planets in the solar system and Jupiter," says lead author Rachel Worth, of Penn State University.
"Any missions to search for life on Titan or the moons of Jupiter will have to consider whether biological material is of independent origin, or another branch in Earth's family tree."
Panspermia - the idea that organisms can "hitchhike" around the solar system on comets and debris from meteor strikes - has long fascinated astronomers.
But thanks to advances in computing, they are now able to simulate these journeys - and follow potential stowaways as they hitch around the Solar System.
In this new study, researchers first estimated the number of rocks bigger than 3m ejected from Earth by major impacts.
Three metres is the minimum they think necessary to shield microbes from the Sun's radiation over a journey lasting up to 10 million years.
They then mapped the likely fate of these voyagers. Many simply hung around in Earth orbit, or were slowly drawn back down.
Others were pulled into the Sun, or sling-shotted out of the Solar System entirely.
Yet a small but significant number made it all the way to alien worlds which might welcome life. "Enough that it matters," Ms Worth told BBC News.
About six rocks even made it as far as Europa, a satellite of Jupiter with a liquid ocean covered in an icy crust.
"Even using conservative, realistic estimates... it's still possible that organisms could be swimming around out there in the oceans of Europa," she said.
Travel to Mars was much more common. About 360,000 large rocks took a ride to the Red Planet, courtesy of historical asteroid impacts.
Big bang theory
Perhaps the most famous of these impacts was at Chicxulub in Mexico about 66 million years ago - when an object the size of a small city collided with Earth.
The impact has been blamed for the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, triggering volcanic eruptions and wildfires which choked the planet with smoke and dust.
It also launched about 70 billion kg of rock into space - 20,000kg of which could have reached Europa. And the chances that a rock big enough to harbour life arrived are "better than 50/50", researchers estimate.
But could living organisms actually survive these epic trips?
"I'd be surprised if life hasn't gotten to Mars," Ms Worth told BBC News.
"It's beyond the scope of our study. But it seems reasonable that at some point some Earth organisms have made it over there."
It has been shown that tiny creatures can withstand the harsh environment of space. And bacterial spores can be revived after hundreds of millions of years in a dormant state.
But even if a hardy microbe did stow away for all those millennia, it might simply burn up on arrival, or land in inhospitable terrain.
The most habitable places in range of Earth are Europa, Mars and Titan - but while all three have likely held water, it may not have been on offer to visitors.
Europa's oceans are capped by a crust of ice that may be impenetrably thick.
"But it appears regions of the ice sheet sometimes break into large chunks separated by liquid water, which later refreezes," Ms Worth said.
"Any meteorites lying on top of the ice sheet in a region when this occurs would stand a chance of falling through.
"Additionally, the moons are thought to have been significantly warmer in the not-too-distant past."
Moon fossils
On Mars, there is little evidence of flowing water during the last 3.5bn years - the likeliest window for Earth life to arrive.
But what if the reverse trip took place?
The early Martian atmosphere appears to have been warm and wet - prime conditions for the development of life.
And if Martian microbes ever did exist, transfer to Earth is "highly probable" due to the heavy traffic of meteorites between our planets, Ms Worth told BBC News.
"Billions have fallen on Earth from Mars since the dawn of our planetary system. It is even possible that life on Earth originated on Mars."
While her team are not the first to calculate that panspermia is possible, their 10-million-year simulation is the most extended yet, said astrobiologist Prof Jay Melosh, of Purdue University.
"The study strongly reinforces the conclusion that, once large impacts eject material from the surface of a planet such as the Earth or Mars, the ejected debris easily finds its way from one planet to another," he told BBC News.
"The Chicxulub impact itself might not have been a good candidate because it occurred in the ocean (50 to 500m deep water) and, while it might have ejected a few sea-surface creatures, like ammonites, into space, it would not likely have ejected solid rocks.
"I sometimes joke that we might find ammonite shells on the Moon from that event.
"But other large impacts on the Earth may indeed have ejected rocks into interplanetary space."
Another independent expert on panspermia, Mauricio Reyes-Ruiz of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said the new findings were "very significant".
"The fact such different pathways exist for the interchange of material between Earth and bodies in the Solar System suggests that if life is ever found, it may very well turn out to be our very, very distant relatives," he said.
外星隕石可以撞上地球，影響地球生態(tài)。地球上的巖石也可以飛向其他星球，送去生命。據(jù)英國(guó)廣播公司12月11日?qǐng)?bào)道，科學(xué)家研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，6600萬(wàn)年前導(dǎo)致恐龍滅絕的隕石撞擊也可能把地球生命送上了其他星球。
***輸出生命
6600萬(wàn)年前，一枚規(guī)模相當(dāng)于一座小型城市的隕石撞上地球，人稱希克蘇魯博撞擊。有學(xué)者猜想這次撞擊導(dǎo)致地球上火山大規(guī)模噴發(fā)，地表被煙霧覆蓋，導(dǎo)致恐龍滅絕。與此同時(shí)，強(qiáng)烈的撞擊也把700億噸左右的地球巖石送入太空，有可能抵達(dá)其他星球，送去地球生命。這一發(fā)現(xiàn)已經(jīng)在學(xué)術(shù)雜志《天體生物學(xué)》上發(fā)表。
第一作者、賓夕法尼亞州立大學(xué)的雷切爾•沃思說(shuō)：“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，地球和火星上面的巖石都有可能攜帶生命體抵達(dá)太陽(yáng)系中的其他星球。我們?cè)谕列l(wèi)六或者木星的衛(wèi)星上尋找生命的時(shí)候必須記住，那些生命體可能獨(dú)立產(chǎn)生，也有可能原本屬于地球大家庭的一員。”
研究人員認(rèn)為，從地球上飛出的巖石直徑必須在3米以上才能有效保護(hù)所攜帶的生命體，保障其在最長(zhǎng)可達(dá)1000萬(wàn)年的旅程中不會(huì)死于太陽(yáng)輻射。這些巖石飛出地球后的命運(yùn)各不相同。有的留在地球軌道中繞地飛行，有的慢慢掉落回地面，有的飛向太陽(yáng)灰飛煙滅，還有的一頭扎進(jìn)浩瀚宇宙，永遠(yuǎn)離開(kāi)地球周圍。沃思說(shuō)：“有的外星球可能適宜生命居住，有一部分地球巖石抵達(dá)那里，它們雖然數(shù)量較少，但已經(jīng)值得我們注意。”
有證據(jù)表明，微小的生命體能夠在嚴(yán)酷的太空環(huán)境下存活，細(xì)菌孢子休眠數(shù)百萬(wàn)年之后還能重新生長(zhǎng)。不過(guò)，在多年的長(zhǎng)途跋涉之后，它們還要面對(duì)著陸時(shí)撞擊和高溫的挑戰(zhàn)，若目的地環(huán)境惡劣，也有可能就此死亡。
***木衛(wèi)二
木衛(wèi)二是木星的一個(gè)衛(wèi)星，大約有6顆地球巖石飛抵那里。希克蘇魯博撞擊送出的700億噸地球巖石中，大約有20噸到達(dá)了木衛(wèi)二。據(jù)估計(jì)，地球巖石帶著生命體抵達(dá)木衛(wèi)二的可能性也超過(guò)50%。木衛(wèi)二上有液體海洋，被冰面覆蓋。有人認(rèn)為，冰面太厚，巖石無(wú)法穿透。沃思則表示，上凍的間隙，冰面有時(shí)候會(huì)破裂，露出液態(tài)水，給巖石創(chuàng)造機(jī)會(huì)進(jìn)入冰面以下。沃思說(shuō)：“那些衛(wèi)星在并不遙遠(yuǎn)的過(guò)去還很溫暖呢……即使現(xiàn)實(shí)一點(diǎn)，保守估計(jì)，這些生命體還是有可能在木衛(wèi)二上的海洋里游來(lái)游去。”
***火星
另外，研究人員還估計(jì)，總共大約有36萬(wàn)顆地球巖石受隕石撞擊影響飛上火星，也帶去了生命。沃思說(shuō)：“要是生命體沒(méi)有活著到達(dá)火星，我才要吃驚呢。雖然這不在我們的研究范圍內(nèi)，但地球生命體很有可能在某個(gè)時(shí)候飛到那里。”而人類目前正努力在火星上尋找生命的跡象。
沃思認(rèn)為，地球和火星之間的巖石來(lái)往相當(dāng)頻繁，如果微生物曾經(jīng)在火星上存在過(guò)，就很有可能隨著巖石來(lái)到地球。她說(shuō)：“地球形成以來(lái)，已經(jīng)飛過(guò)來(lái)了數(shù)十億顆火星隕石。地球上的生命還有可能是火星上帶過(guò)來(lái)的呢。”
***評(píng)論
除了沃思的團(tuán)隊(duì)之外，其他科研人員也在探究類似課題。普渡大學(xué)天體生物學(xué)家杰伊•梅洛什說(shuō)：“一旦星球表面的巖石離開(kāi)本體，就很有可能抵達(dá)其他星球。這項(xiàng)研究為此提供了強(qiáng)有力的證據(jù)。希克蘇魯博撞擊就很有機(jī)會(huì)。它撞在50到500米深的海洋上，有可能把菊石等海洋生物送上太空。我有時(shí)候會(huì)開(kāi)玩笑說(shuō)，咱們說(shuō)不定能在月球上看見(jiàn)菊石的殼，它就是那次撞擊的時(shí)候飛過(guò)去的。”
梅洛什補(bǔ)充說(shuō)：“地球和太陽(yáng)系其他星體之間有如此多樣的途徑交換物質(zhì)，我們?nèi)绻娴恼业降赝馍f(shuō)不定它們還是我們的遠(yuǎn)房親戚呢。” |
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