Does alien life need a planet to survive? Scientists propose intriguing possibility

[Admin]

While such organisms may or may not exist in the universe, the research has important implications for future human endeavors in space.

Does alien life need a planet to survive? Scientists propose intriguing possibility : Read more

 

[Unclear Engineer]

This article seems to be missing the main ingredient, which is abiogenesis and evolution.

The closest if gets is assuming that life somehow started on an asteroid and went from there to being able to live off that asteroid, in free space.

To do that, life not only needed to start, but to develop all of those biochemical physical capabilities to create a shell, regulate its internal temperature and pressure, recycle its nutrients, etc. Plus, not mentioned, it would need some means of repair, because it is going to be hit by meteorites.

So, it isn't just a problem of life somehow starting, it would need to last long enough to evolve all of those capabilities.

If I were to try to make it sound more plausible, I would have suggested starting on a comet, rather than an asteroid. And, I would suggest that the initial source of energy be the active chemicals created by the ionizing radiation from nuclear decays. At least, that could start in pockets of liquid water inside an icy body like a comet at the absolutely perfect distance from its star (for a long time without totally evaporating and disintegrating). Perhaps that initial life form could evolve into some kind of slime form that could coat the asteroid/comet's surface after some amount of evolution, and become more stable.

But, I think you then have a slimy asteroid, not a free-in-space life form with no celestial body at all to call it an asteroid or comet. It would then take some sort of impact to send a separate blob of the surface slime into free space, and that would have to be able to survive there without its home asteroid.

Possible? Who knows. Probable, I don't think so. Unless, perhaps, the result of some extraterrestrial society's "class room experiment" to demonstrate abiogenesis to its children for their schooling. (But they would need to be an extremely long-lived species.)

Anyway, I don't think such a floating blob of slime would ever develop into a technological species. So if humans traveling in space ever found such a life form, we would probably soon be asking "Is it edible?"

 

[Helio]

This article seems to be missing the main ingredient, which is abiogenesis and evolution.

Yes. Even if there were a rock with enough prebiotic material there must be some natural mechanism that would put things together to make a protective shell.

This is another example of the Steve Martin's joke on "How to make a million dollars tax-free". "First start with a million dollars...."

IMO, it's like having a mountain then expecting a train tunnel to be made but without the boring equipment. The purpose, as I understand, of liquids, especially water, is to allow zillions of molecules to contact one another to allow passive progress. Liquids don't exist in space, though some can last quite a while like mercury and certain silicon compounds, apparently. I see no mechanistic answer to make their idea plausible.