Scientists say that this year they will be able to find evidence that extraterrestrial life exists. They have tried to do this for a long time, but it is 2020 that can be a real breakthrough.
In order to collect samples of the asteroid Ryugu, Japanese experts used a special probe Hayabusa-2. Samples will be delivered to our planet this year.
Soon, scientists will be able to analyze samples of that soil. Experts are confident that they will be able to detect microbes in an asteroid.
Ian Whittaker, along with Gareth Dorian, involved in this study, talk about the fact that asteroid Ryugu can answer many questions.
An asteroid may not only become an important element in the search for life outside our planet, but it will help scientists study the theory of panspermia in more detail.
Panspermia is the hypothesis that life exists throughout the universe, distributed by space meteoroids, asteroids, comets and also by spaceships that carry unintended contamination by microorganisms. The distribution may have occurred in galaxies and therefore cannot be restricted to the limited range of solar systems.
Panspermia hypotheses propose (for example) that microscopic life forms, which can survive the effects of space (such as extremophiles), can become trapped in debris ejected into space after collisions between planets and small bodies of the solar system that harbor life.
Some organisms may travel inactive for a long time before randomly colliding with other planets.
But if we find no evidence of microbial extraterrestrial life in the soil samples of the Ryugo asteroid, don’t be discouraged, as the surface of an asteroid is exposed to the most incredible weather conditions for life.
Still, there are many other things that can make 2020 a historic year when it comes to discovering extraterrestrial life.
Let’s wait.
