Posted: Jul 09, 2018 12:28 pm
There's another timing problem with panspermia, of course. Namely, that meteorites and comets typically move through space at speeds between 15 km/s and 50 km/s. At those speeds, you're looking at about a quarter of a million years travel time, just to cross the distance between here and Alpha Centauri. That's rather a long time for microbes to survive in interstellar space.
If, on the other hand, panspermia is limited to molecules instead of microbes, the above timing problem is less acute. But could still have an impact with respect to such phenomena as ultraviolet photolysis.
If, on the other hand, panspermia is limited to molecules instead of microbes, the above timing problem is less acute. But could still have an impact with respect to such phenomena as ultraviolet photolysis.