The moon can tell about the origin of life on Earth

The south pole of our natural satellite mayhide the answer to the question of the origin of life on Earth. According to an article published by sciencenews.com, the icy reserves of the moon brought to the surface of the satellite from the outside by comets can store traces of organisms that once came to Earth and entailed its further settlement. If so, then why have so many robotic expeditions still not found anything?

Traces of life may be hidden on the surface of the moon

Is there life on the moon?

Long before the advent of telescopes, people were turninghis gaze to the night luminary in the hope that one day they will be able to meet their own inhabitants of the universe on this bright ball of pearl color. However, tens, hundreds and even thousands of years have passed, and the Moon still remains a lifeless desert without an atmosphere and air suitable for human breathing. Be that as it may, every night a lot of terrestrial enthusiastic astronomers aim the eyepieces of their telescopes on the lunar surface, and, like their predecessors, is looking for more and more evidence of the satellite’s habitability of the third solar system planet.

Well, maybe their suspicions aboutthe habitability of the moon has a solid foundation. According to the latest research, the South Pole of the Moon, which stores a significant amount of water and ice under its surface, can not only contain traces of ancient microorganisms - full-fledged inhabitants of the Moon, but also become real evidence of panspermia - the hypothesis about the transfer of living organisms from one star system to another using comets and asteroids. The basis of this hypothesis is the belief that organisms - extremophiles that can withstand any, even the most extreme climate, can survive a long stay in airless space.

See also: The moon can help in the search for aliens

Tardigrades - recognized multicellular extremophile organisms

The fact that there is no life on the moonor even biological compounds, it was known long before the Apollo 11 mission was sent to the satellite. At the same time, modern scientists were able to detect elements necessary for the synthesis of organic compounds on the lunar surface, although the current conditions on the satellite do not allow these elements to turn into full-fledged living microorganisms.

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Planetologist Alan Stern from SouthwestColorado Research Institute notes that although evidence of the existence of life on the moon has not yet been found, astronauts of the near future who will need to work at the satellite’s South Pole will have to adhere to enhanced safety precautions that guarantee complete sterility during the necessary work to extract ice deposits and other minerals located in this area. Such tough measures are designed to guarantee safety for hypothetical microorganisms that may have hit the satellite along with ancient comets or asteroids. If so, then the Earth adjacent to the Moon could receive water and all the building blocks necessary for life in a similar way. In other words, the answer to the long-standing question of humanity about the origin of life on Earth can be very close - in the ice of the ancient craters of the South Pole of the Moon.