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Cardiff University 
Cardiff, Wales

Contact:
Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe
Wickramasinghe{at}cardiff.ac.uk, 02920-874201

17 Decmber 2002

Microorganism isolated in space
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How far up into the sky does the biosphere extend? Do microorganisms 
exist at heights of 40 km and in what quantity? To answer these 
questions several research institutes in India collaborated on a 
path-breaking project to send balloon-borne sterile "cryosamplers" 
into the stratosphere. The programme was led by cosmologist Professor 
Jayant Narlikar, Director of the Inter University Centre for Astronomy 
and Astrophysics in Pune, with scientists at the Indian Space Research 
Organisation and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Studies 
contributing their various expertise.

Large volumes of air from the stratosphere at heights ranging from 20 
to 41km were collected on 21 January 2001. The programme of analysis 
of samples in the UK was organised by Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe 
of Cardiff University, co-proponent with the late Sir Fred Hoyle of 
the modern theory of panspermia. This theory states that the Earth was 
seeded in the past, and is still being seeded, with microorganisms 
from comets. 

Last year a team of biologists at Cardiff University's School of 
Biosciences reported evidence of viable bacteria in air samples at 
41km in such quantity that implied a world-wide settling rate of one 
tonne of bacterial material per day. Although living bacteria were 
seen they could not be grown in the laboratory. Dr Milton Wainwright
of Sheffield University's Department of Molecular Biology and 
Biotechnology, was asked to apply his skills to growing the organisms. 
Dr Wainwright isolated a fungus and two bacteria from one of the space 
derived samples collected at 41km. The presence of bacteria in these
samples was then independently confirmed. These results are published 
in this month's issue of a prestigious microbiology journal FEMS 
Letters (Wainwright et al, 2002), published by Elsevier. The isolated 
organisms are very similar to known terrestrial varieties. There are
however notable differences in their detailed properties, possibly 
pointing to a different origin. Furthermore, it should be stressed 
that these microorganisms are not common laboratory contaminants.

Dr Wainwright says, however, "Contamination is always a possibility in 
such studies but the "internal logic" of the findings points strongly 
to the organisms being isolated in space, at a height of 41km. Of 
course the results would have been more readily accepted and lauded by 
critics had we isolated novel organisms, or ones with NASA written on 
them! However, we can only report what we have found in good faith".

The new work of Wainwright et al is consistent with the ideas of Hoyle 
and Wickramasinghe that in fact predict the continuing input onto the 
Earth of "modern" organisms.  In recent years and months there has 
been a growing body of evidence that can be interpreted as support for 
the theory of panspermia -- e.g. the space survival attributes and 
general space hardiness of bacteria. 

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