And if so, what kind? How to cope with the low temperatures and cosmic radiation? Who lives on the edge of space? That is - who else, except for pilots and divers rare in the sky? To this question and prepared to answer one of the employees of NASA.
If we try to imagine the conditions suitable for life, the stratosphere comes to mind is not right: high, dry, cold. This atmospheric layer lies over the site where the weather is formed, that is, at an altitude of 10-50 km above the Earth. Average temperature in the lower part of -56 ˚ C, and the jet stream blowing at a speed of 160 km / h Atmospheric density at least 10% of that at sea level. Oxygen is in the form of ozone, which covers everything below it, UV space, but above it (ie, above 32 km) there is no defense.
The perfect place to search for living organisms, is not it? Yes, I'm sure biologist David Smith of the University of Washington (USA), where you can find germs almost all domains.The moon through the upper atmosphere. The picture was taken in December 2003 from the International Space Station.
Mr. Smith engaged in the project Space Center. Kennedy "Microorganisms in the Stratosphere» (Microorganisms in the Stratosphere, MIST), which aims to census living at an altitude of several thousand feet above the Earth. With tall meteosharov and samples taken at the volcano observatory Batchelor (Oregon), researchers are going to make it clear where is the border of the biosphere. Reports that microorganisms are able to survive at altitudes up to 77 km, comes from the 1930's, but Mr. Smith does not meet the reliability of the old data. Perhaps microbes were recorded at high altitude by scientific equipment. "The articles of that time says nothing about sterilization" - emphasizes the expert. Some researchers suggest that the observed life forms were recorded from space, but Mr. Smith is sure of their earthly origin. Most of them - bacterial spores that is extremely resistant organisms with a protective coating that is able to move and low temperature, and dry, and high levels of radiation. Most likely, they go throw dust storms and hurricanes, and then they fly around the world. Going down and finding the right conditions, the debate alive.
Information on who and how to live in the stratosphere, will shed light on the ability of organisms to survive in a monstrously difficult conditions on other planets, especially Mars. It will be interesting to look at and what changes and genetic mutations may have germs on high altitude, especially on the other side of the ozone layer.
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