Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
May 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007aas...210.5402k&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society Meeting 210, #54.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.165
Mathematics
Logic
Scientific paper
Many have speculated that microbes may have the ability to travel through space inside of comets or meteorites, attached to sand- or dust-sized grains, or possibly even as “naked” spores. Radiation is an important part of the space environment, and periodic high-energy events (e.g. supernovae, gamma ray bursts, large solar flares) will occasionally subject these organisms to very high levels of radiation. It is likely that these radiation levels will, every several million years, be sufficiently high as to be lethal to most known organisms, and that this may constrain the ability of living organisms to travel through space.
Factors influencing the radiation dose to which an organism would be exposed include radiation parameters in space (photon and charged particle flux, fluence, and energy spectra) and the nature and amount of shielding present (i.e. the size of the particle or rock and its composition). If we hold the energy flux and fluence in space constant, we can calculate the radiation dose on the interior of objects of varying sizes and compositions, determining the biological effects of these doses on living organisms carried within.
Larger objects provide more shielding, and the lower resulting radiation levels will be easier to survive; but larger objects require more energy (a larger impact) to reach escape velocity following an impact. Smaller objects may be more readily blasted into space, but provide less protection from charged particles although, paradoxically, high-energy photons may not deposit energy (hence, low radiation dose) in very small objects. Accordingly, we will discuss the basic radiation biology of microbes and the manner in which physical parameters may influence the radiation dose to organisms in space and how this might impact their survivability.
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