Publication Date:
2011-08-24
Description:
The ability of living organisms to survive on the smaller bodies in our solar system is examined. The three most significant sterilizing effects include ionizing radiation, prolonged extreme vacuum, and relentless thermal inactivation. Each could be effectively lethal, and even more so in combination, if organisms at some time resided in the surfaces of airless small bodies located near or in the inner solar system. Deep within volatile-rich bodies, certain environments theoretically might provide protection of dormant organisms against these sterilizing factors. Sterility of surface materials to tens or hundreds of centimeters of depth appears inevitable, and to greater depths for bodies which have resided for long periods sunward of about 2 A.U.
Keywords:
Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration
Type:
Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (ISSN 0169-6149); Volume 29; 5; 521-45
Format:
text
