Question

Why did some of the scientific community turn to space to answer the question of life's origin?

As you know, the origin of life persists as one of humanity's most ancient and profound questions--where did we come from, and how did we get here? Scholars of all kinds have pondered these questions for hundreds of years, whether through religion, philosophy, art, or more recently, science. In searching for a scientific answer, the Earth gives us only so many clues preserved in rock, fossil, and genetic code. Consequentially, some scientists have proposed looking into space for an answer, hoping that these unexplored expanses may hold a simpler and faster path to an answer.

One of these early scientific ideas was Panspermia, proposed by Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius in 1901. Panspermia suggested that life soars through interstellar space in the form of a spore or seed, occasionally coming to rest on a planet. Once the spores find a host planet, replication and eventual evolution can occur. However, as we have learned more about the harsh conditions of interstellar space, the hypothesis of Panspermia seems more and more improbable. The combined effects of high-energy ultraviolet radiation, x-rays, and cosmic-ray particles in interstellar space would bombard and destroy any complex organic molecules over the length of the trip. Despite these conditions, a handful of people still cling to the idea of Panspermia--perhaps because it gives them (a living) causation to life on Earth.

For an entire website dedicated to scientific work concerning the origin of life and the universe, check out the NASA Origins Program at: http://origins.jpl.nasa.gov/ Anna Lee Strachan, NASA Astrobiology Institute
January 28, 2002