A Dirty Universe, But A Pretty One

Scientists are proposing that asteroid impacts on Earth could have seeded other planets and moons in our solar system with life.

Brett Gladman from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver and colleagues calculated that about 600 million fragments from such an impact would escape from Earth into an orbit around the Sun. Some of these would have escape velocities such that they could get to Jupiter and Saturn in roughly a million years. Using computer models, they plotted the behaviour of these fragments once they were in orbit. From this, they calculated the expected number that would hit certain moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

Microbes from Earth's planetary road accident flew through space and end up on the surface of Titan and Europa, and it is estimated that Titan's upper atmosphere is thick enough that they might have survived the relatively soft landing. Titan "is rich in organic compounds, which provide a potential energy source for primitive life forms."

Somehow this research fills me with glee. It reminds me of the last time in my life I ever attended the unemployment office. No shame in signing on - during my lifetime, we've had four major recessions due to the criminal mis-management of the local and global economies - but it was a drag, standing in line, hoping your payment would be on time, hating the smell of the place.

I used to cycle up the Holloway Road to North Star House, and to avoid theft, park my bike around the corner in local business carpark, chaining it twice over. I was aware that last time I signed on that I would never return, and I felt a sense of relief - nothing major, just the knowledge that I wasn't coming back.

When I got home, I found a twig from the bush that grew large by the square modern railing. It had got stuck in my spokes, and it a pretty pink flower on it. It had survived the journey, a mile in traffic down the A1, so I stuck it in a plastic tub rich in organic compounds, and it grew into a really nice bush - a Hebe Great Orme which attracts butterflies, hoverflies, and which flowers from May to October. It's been there a long time now, getting bigger every year. I ignore it, and it thrives. If I give it enough root space it will grow to five feet.

If Titan warms up, maybe Hebe will grow there.