unlikely
anything that could survive a billion years of hard radiation,hard vacume, zero humidity, and wild temperature swings.....
and then spring back to life is going to be instantly recognisable as "not from here".And as the sample return capsule was leaking asteroid dust everywhere when it landed, if it is alien, we are so fucked.
There is a vanishingly small chance that life could endure space as a spore of some kind,but it would require bio mechanisms that are unknown, and as of yet, inconceavable.
What it does point to, is just how tennatious life is here on earth and how easily it gets around,inside of our biosphere, and to the general problem of
building truely hermetic capsules and seals,and handling protocalls.
A related problem is the study of the element iron(fe), which in its purest form
us the most expensive substance on earth.
This is because iron will combine with almost anything, from any source, under any conditions, to the piont that, introducing any instrument or probe to actualy test the sample...contaminates it.
So the study of pure iron, is exceptionaly
challenging.
Likely that the asteroid sample has been compromised just by the closing mechanism
bieng jammed with asteroid dust, and it never realy sealed.
The moon missions were plagued with dust
and dust has disrupted operations on mars
,this would make 3 for 3.
maybe they were already there?
unlikely anything that could survive a billion years of hard radiation,hard vacume, zero humidity, and wild temperature swings..... and then spring back to life is going to be instantly recognisable as "not from here".And as the sample return capsule was leaking asteroid dust everywhere when it landed, if it is alien, we are so fucked. There is a vanishingly small chance that life could endure space as a spore of some kind,but it would require bio mechanisms that are unknown, and as of yet, inconceavable. What it does point to, is just how tennatious life is here on earth and how easily it gets around,inside of our biosphere, and to the general problem of building truely hermetic capsules and seals,and handling protocalls. A related problem is the study of the element iron(fe), which in its purest form us the most expensive substance on earth. This is because iron will combine with almost anything, from any source, under any conditions, to the piont that, introducing any instrument or probe to actualy test the sample...contaminates it. So the study of pure iron, is exceptionaly challenging. Likely that the asteroid sample has been compromised just by the closing mechanism bieng jammed with asteroid dust, and it never realy sealed. The moon missions were plagued with dust and dust has disrupted operations on mars ,this would make 3 for 3.