Panspermia

 

'Panspermia'
- digital art, George Roberts August 2025

All across the universe spread so very thin

Micro crystalline structures holding DNA within

Withstanding deep freeze and radiation

Gravitation, kinetic impacts and ablation

Information coded for all creation

A continuous cosmic secular revelation 

George Roberts

The idea of 'Panspermia' is one of those scientific hypotheses that carries with it not only biological and astronomical implications, but also deep philosophical ones. At its heart, Panspermia proposes that life does not necessarily have to originate on the planet where it is found. Instead, the seeds of life, or even fully formed microorganisms, may be transported between worlds on fragments of rock ejected by cosmic collisions. 

The mechanism is straightforward in principle, if spectacular in scale. When a large asteroid or comet collides with a planet, the violence of the impact may blast pieces of its surface into space. If those pieces are expelled with enough force, they can escape the planet’s gravity and begin a journey through the Cosmos. Some of these rocks might carry within them microbes, cocooned in the protective shielding of stone. Over millions and billions of years, these fragments can drift, crossing the vastness between worlds. Eventually, gravitational pull may draw them into the orbit of another planet, where they fall through the atmosphere and come to rest on a new surface. In such a scenario, if the microbes inside remain viable, they may awaken in a new environment and establish themselves in alien soil.

Evidence that such a process is at least physically possible already exists. We have discovered meteorites on Earth that can be traced back to Mars, most famously the Antarctic specimen known as ALH84001. If Martian rocks can find their way here, then by extension, Earth rocks can find their way to Mars. Laboratory experiments and space missions have also demonstrated that certain hardy microbes, such as bacterial spores, can survive extremes of radiation, temperature, and vacuum, at least for long durations. The challenge lies in proving survival over the immense timescales required for interplanetary travel, as well as surviving the heat and stress of atmospheric entry.

The implications of Panspermia stretch far beyond the technical. If life on Earth began not here but on Mars, it would force us to reconsider our place in the story of creation. Earth might not be the cradle of life, but rather one link in a chain of worlds passing life’s torch from one to the next. On an even larger scale, if Panspermia were shown to occur frequently, then life in the universe might not be rare at all. Once it begins in one favourable place, it could spread, seeding many worlds with variations of the same ancestral spark.

There is also something profoundly humbling in the thought that we may not be entirely “of” the Earth. Our roots, biological and existential, might extend beyond this planet to other corners of the solar system, perhaps even beyond. If life on Mars or Europa were someday found to share a genetic kinship with life on Earth, it would not only prove that we are not alone, but that we are part of a wider cosmic family. It would mean that the universe is less a collection of isolated worlds, and more a web of connected habitats, bound together by the quiet migration of life.

In turbulent times such as ours, when human anxieties are often sharpened by the fragility of our own existence, the concept of Panspermia offers a curious comfort. It suggests that life is resilient, not fragile; that it finds ways to endure, adapt, and spread across unimaginable distances. Whether or not Panspermia turns out to be true in a literal sense, it is a reminder that life—our life—is deeply embedded in the processes of the cosmos, shaped by forces both violent and creative, yet still capable of carrying forward the fragile flame of existence.