Plankton found in space: Sea creatures are discovered living on the exterior of the ISS

[bananas]

Source: Daily Mail

Traces of plankton and other microorganisms have been found living on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS), according to Russian space officials.

They claim the plankton were not carried there at launch – but are thought to have been blown there by air currents on Earth.

<snip>

The discovery was made during a routine spacewalk by Russian cosmonauts Olek Artemyev and Alexander Skvortsov, who were launching nanosatellites into space.

They used wipes to polish the surface of windows - also known as illuminators - on the Russian segment of the ISS and later found the presence of plankton and other microorganisms using ‘high-precision equipment’.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2728979/Never-mind-alien-life-SEA-PLANKTON-space-Creatures-living-surface-ISS-officials-say.html

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, bananas.

[LloydS of New London]

2. Russian?

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/11/world/ufo-landing-is-fact-not-fantasy-the-russians-insist.html

U.F.O. Landing Is Fact, Not Fantasy, the Russians Insist
By ESTHER B. FEIN, Special to The New York Times
Published: October 11, 1989

It is not a joke, nor a hoax, nor a sign of mental instability, nor an attempt to drum up local tourism by drawing the curious, the Soviet press agency Tass insisted today in discussions of what it called an extraterrestrial visit to southern Russia.

Residents of the city of Voronezh insisted today that lanky, three-eyed extraterrestrial creatures had indeed landed in a local park and gone for a stroll and that a seemingly fantastic report about the event carried Monday by the official press agency Tass was absolutely true.

''It was not an optical illusion,'' said Lieut. Sergei A. Matveyev of the Voronezh district police station, who said in a telephone interview that he saw the landing of the U.F.O. on Sept. 27.

Lieutenant Matveyev confessed that he had not actually seen the aliens, but said he saw the spaceship and ''it was certainly a body flying in the sky,'' moving noiselessly at a very high speed and very low altitude. 'Anything Is Possible'

[cbayer]

3. Blew there from earth? Really?

What a strange thing.

[snooper2]

22. Yep, really strange ROFLMAO

What we get for flying jumbo jets at 18k feet

[cbayer]

23. I am clearly out of my league here, but that just seems like it would be impossible.

I think it would be more likely that the vessel or something brought on board had some plankton on it when it left earth.

How could they rule that out?

But then, I'm no rocket scientist, lol.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

34. I am also skeptical.

I recall this thing called escape velocity and doubt any wind carried plankton into space. Of course, I'm not a scientist either.

[AtheistCrusader]

24. Panspermia is a real thing.

Not just organisms, There are even heavy things like rocks found on earth that are from mars. Something big hits mars, tosses some material up, some of it gets out of Mars' gravity well, and ta-da, it's possible for it to find it's way to earth.

And there are certainly creatures that can survive the temp/radiation/vacuum of space.

The ISS technically drags in Atmo to a degree. It only orbits at ~240 miles.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition26/iss_altitude.html

[bananas]

4. "No air current could carry a particle of this size to several hundred km" - Chandra Wickramasinghe

http://panspermia.org/whatsnew78.htm

Plankton found in space: Sea creatures are discovered living on the exterior of the ISS, Daily Mail Online, 19 Aug 2014.
Scientists find traces of sea plankton on ISS surface, ITAR-TASS News Agency, 19 Aug 2014.

Thanks Thanks, Richard Hoover, who comments, "I am also unable to recognize the image shown with the article," and Chandra Wickramasinghe, who comments, "No air current could carry a particle of this size to several hundred km."

[bananas]

5. Keith Cowing is also skeptical

http://nasawatch.com/archives/2014/08/russian-scienti.html

Russian Scientists Claim That Algae Lives On ISS Exterior - In Space
By Keith Cowing on August 19, 2014 8:07 PM. 0 Comments

Sea creatures are discovered living on the exterior of the ISS, Daily Mail

<snip>

Keith's note: I'm certain that were I to ask CASIS or the ISS National Laboratory folks for a peer-reviewed publication for these results that they'd be more than happy to comply, right? And if this news story is not true, I should expect an equally swift statement to that effect, right? Astrobiologists ought to be jumping up and down about this - if it is true, that is.

[sakabatou]

7. If it's verified

this would be a great find.

[another_liberal]

8. Russophobia strikes again!

Just between you and me, there are those on these boards who have become so biased against all things Russian they would refuse to believe a weather report from the local Moscow media.

Good luck getting them to take a story like this seriously (let alone open-mindedly). It's a Russian report, so it must be ridiculed and dismissed without allowing any meaningful discussion.

[RandiFan1290]

9. It makes them feel all nostalgic

and Reagan-y...

[former9thward]

15. They have reverted to the 1950s Cold War.

[another_liberal]

32. The end of the Cold War was coitus interruptus for some . . .

Just winning was not enough for them. They won't feel truly satisfied until Moscow looks like Berlin did in May of 45'.

[Purveyor]

29. Indeed. eom

[eShirl]

10. sounds legit

[GeorgeGist]

11. As a biologist I suspect this is a false conclusion.

[magical thyme]

18. agreed. living on what? even plankton's got to eat

and it's mighty cold out there. And dark. And dry. And lacking oxygen.

[Orsino]

28. Not to mention unfiltered UV and extreme heat. n/t

[Locrian]

12. actual high res scan...

[jakeXT]

13. Has BIOMEX EXPOSE-R2 started ?

BIOMEX: Exploring Mars in Low Earth Orbit
By Aaron L. Gronstal - Jul 31, 2014

In their quest to understand life’s potential beyond Earth, astrobiologists study how organisms might survive in numerous environments, from the surface of Mars to the ice-covered oceans of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. For now, Earth is our only example of an inhabited planet, and studying the limits of habitability on Earth is a major component of astrobiology research. For this reason, scientists collect data from places on our planet where life is pushed to the absolute limits of adaptability, from the Antarctic to the Arctic, and from smoldering thermal vents to highly acidic rivers.

But locations like the Antarctic Dry Valleys or deep-sea vents in the Pacific aren’t the only places in which astrobiologists study life as we know it. Low Earth orbit provides an opportunity to observe Earth-life in the harsh conditions of space.

In the early hours of July 24th, 2014, a new astrobiology experiment began its journey from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station (ISS). BIOMEX (Biology and Mars Experiment) launched onboard a Russian Progress cargo spacecraft and is one of four experiments that make up the EXPOSE-R2 facility, which will be mounted on the exterior of the ISS Zvezda module. Just six hours after launch, the cargo ship successfully docked with the ISS.

Life on the Station

BIOMEX contains twelve different experimental packages that are designed to help determine life’s potential on Mars. The Institute of Planetary Research at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) is coordinating BIOMEX, but the project involves 25 participating institutions from around the world.

- See more at: http://www.astrobio.net/topic/origins/extreme-life/biomex-exploring-mars-low-earth-orbit/

[Bluenorthwest]

14. I've found slightly more credible sources than the Daily Fail, but so far none can state the type of

plankton found, which I'd really like to know. Plankton is a diverse set of organisms, not a specific organism. An algae? A bacteria?
If anyone finds out which sort they found, please post it here. Very interesting stuff.

[packman]

16. I give you the Water Bear

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

"tardigrades (water bears) were aboard the FOTON-M3 spacecraft launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in September 2007 and were exposed to open space conditions, the scientists reported today. They were examined upon return to Earth.

Most survived exposure to the vacuum and cosmic rays, and some even survived the exposure to the deadly levels of solar UV radiation, which are more than 1,000 times higher than on the surface of the Earth.

The survivors "could reproduce fine after their space trip," according to a statement released today by Cell Press, the journal that published results of the test."



http://www.space.com/5817-creature-survives-naked-space.html

Isn't there a school of thought that living organisms came to earth from Mars hitching rides on meteors that plowed into the Martian surface and bounced off ended up on Earth, seeding this planet for life?

[AngryAmish]

30. This was rhe mechanism

[navarth]

17. kicking for being fascinating.

[Thor_MN]

19. Gohmert and Cruz will be screaming about ISIS bioweapons...

[Trillo]

20. Next thing you know they'll find whales in space.

Star Trek first reported it.

[cosmicone]

21. If I were an astronaut

I'd settle for a lobster or two.

[Nye Bevan]

27. Star Whales?

Star whales were sentient and were similar-looking to other of Earth's cetaceans in basic structure. They had several flippers and tentacular protrusions down their stomach, as well as smaller, spiked tendrils on their back. Star whales travelled through space at speeds comparable to spaceships. Though they could communicate in an atmosphere, their voices were too high-pitched for humans to hear. They were capable of bioluminescence and had glowing patterns around their tendrils.

....

By the 29th century, the species was believed extinct save for one individual. When Earth faced destruction because of solar flares, that star whale was drawn to Earth. All the peoples of Earth had escaped in massive city ships, but the people of the United Kingdom lacked an engine. The star whale intended to offer its services to the stranded people. (TV: The Beast Below)

Unfortunately, the people of the UK misinterpreted this gesture of good will as a lucky coincidence and captured it. They built their ship on its back and carved an opening to its brain to torture it into moving. The city built on its back became known as Starship UK. While the government realised the moral problem, they believed that if the whale was freed, Starship UK would be destroyed, killing the population. To deal with this, every five years they revealed the truth to citizens one at a time and allowed them to vote on the matter, choosing either to "Forget" or "Protest". Forgetting meant their memories would be erased so they didn't have to live with the guilt. However, protesting meant that particular citizen would immediately be fed to the star whale. Every year the overwhelming majority of citizens chose to forget. Similarly, Queen Elizabeth X (Liz Ten for short), whose body clock had been halted and who had ruled the British people for three hundred years, was faced with the choice to Forget or Abdicate every time she found out the truth. Abdication would free the star whale, but as previously stated, it was believed that this would destroy the Starship UK. It is unclear exactly how many times she discovered the truth, but every time, she chose to Forget for the good of her people.

When the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond came to Starship UK in the 33rd century, they investigated the ship. Along the way, Amy stumbled into a voting booth and learned the truth, only to vote to Forget. Eventually the Doctor discovered the heart of the ship, where Hawthorne and his workers were torturing the star whale with electric shocks to keep it moving, and faced the impossible situation. Seeing no reasonable options, the Doctor tried to render the space whale brain-dead so it would no longer feel pain from the torture, but would continue to support the ship. Amy, however, noticed the whale's neural tendrils affectionately playing with the children. She quickly put the pieces together and ran to the control system to press the "Abdicate" button with Liz Ten's hand, freeing the whale.

http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Star_whale

[Enrique]

31. narwhals too?

i want a space narwhal.

[AtheistCrusader]

25. I, for one, welcome our new plankton overlords...

[underpants]

26. Who found him? His computer wife Karen?

That's a SpingeBib reference. I have a 9 year old.

[burfman]

33. Nasa made a mistake like this before

The Apollo 12 lunar mission landed next to the Surveyor 3 probe that was launched a couple of years before. The astronauts cut off the TV camera and took it back to Earth. The camera was analyzed for bacteria and common Streptococcus was detected. At the time it was thought that a technician while assembling the camera on Earth sneezed on it and the bacteria remained dormant while it went to the moon and came back. Many years later upon revisiting the discovery scientists came to the conclusion that NASA's poor handling procedures after the Astronauts removed the camera from the Moon invalidated the idea that the bacteria had survived it's trip to the moon. Today it's thought that the camera was contaminated by either the Astronauts not putting the camera in a sterile bag or the scientists on the ground contaminated the camera while studying it.

Today you can visit the Air and Space museum in DC and see the camera for yourself.

See this Wikipedia entry for a better explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reports_of_Streptococcus_mitis_on_the_Moon

Upshot - need to read this from a peer reviewed scientific journal more creditable source than the dailymail.


Burfman....

[Nat Turner]

35. Life on ISS

This finding on the International Space Station makes it clear that the earth is surrounded by an aura of life,
at least in the form of plankton.
Though the particular type of plankton
has not been identified,
it has been established that it is not the type of plankton,
which would have possibly been picked up from the delivery launch area of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan .
Were the plankton picked up before launch,
doubtless the extreme heat would have destroyed them.
The ISS has been orbiting the earth since 1998 at an
altitude of between 330 km / 205 mi and 435 km /270 mi
It is clear that if they are first lifted from the sea into the atmosphere by rising air currents and winds,
when those winds dissipate that the plankton carries on
at their own steam as though drifting in the seas.
The oceans have been here some 4,400 billion years,
it must be posited that what ever means the plankton
has used to make it into space onto the ISS,
has been going on since that time.
The unthinkable alternative is that the deeps, of space,
is full of this life form,
which of course will give the evolutionists new material,
other than asteroids,
with which to rework their theories
of the seeding of life on earth.