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Did Life Come from
Outer Space?
by Dr. Georgia
Purdom
The simple answer is NO!
The Bible states that God created all living things on
earth by His spoken word on Days Three, Five, and Six of the creation week.
However, the concept that life originated in outer space
and was then transferred to earth is popular in today’s society.
Some believe that bacteria (considered “primitive” life)
or organic molecules necessary for life came from other planets, meteors, or
comets.
Some even suggest that intelligent extraterrestrial aliens
sent life to earth.
Many people are eager to believe in any ideas concerning
the origin of life as long as they exclude the Creator God and the truth of His
Word.
Why Life from Outer Space?
Why
do scientists want to push the origin of life into outer space rather than
believe that life originated on earth?
The answer: complexity and time.
Complexity
Life
on earth is very complex. Bacteria are considered to be the simplest life form.
However, several examples from the bacterial world make it
clear that the word “simple” is a relative term.
Some of the “simplest” are endosymbionts — organisms that
live entirely within other organisms.
Candidatus Carsonella rudii,
a bacterium that lives within the cells of the psyllid insect Pachypsylla venusta,
is considered to have the smallest genome of any endosymbiotic bacteria.
It has 159,662 base pairs (DNA), which encode
approximately 182 genes. The genes encode proteins for amino acid (components
of protein) biosynthesis, which the host insect cannot get from its diet.
The host insect provides necessary proteins that are not
encoded by the bacterial genome.
Nanoarchaeum equitans,
an archaeal (single-celled microorganism similar to bacteria) symbiont of the
archaea Ignicoccus, has
490,885 base pairs, which encode approximately 552 genes.
Although many of the gene functions are currently unknown,
the authors of the paper that sequenced the genome stated that “the complexity of
its information processing systems and the simplicity of its metabolic
apparatus suggests an unanticipated world of organisms to be discovered”
(emphasis mine).
Mycoplasma genitalium has
580,076 base pairs, which encode approximately 521 genes.
Because of its small genome size, M. genitalium was
the bacteria of choice for determination of the minimal genome (or minimum
number of genes) needed to sustain life.
However, determination of the minimal genome has been
hampered by the finding that many bacterial genomes encode backup or
alternative pathways, which are used when the main pathway is removed.
Scientists have stated that this may lead up to a 45
percent underestimation of the minimal genes needed to sustain life.
As can be seen from these examples, life in even its
“simplest” forms is very complex!
Time
According
to secular timelines, the earth is 4.5 billion years old. Other parts of outer
space are much older (up to 15 billion years old according to big bang models).
Since evolution works
by random chance and even the simplest bacteria isn’t very simple, a lot of
time would be required for life to evolve.
Many secular scientists suggest the earth is simply not
old enough to allow for the evolution of
living organisms.
Thus, many scientists push the origin of life into outer
space to gain the time needed for life to evolve.
Does Life Exist in Outer Space?
If
life came to earth from outer space, then many scientists suggest that we
should be able to find evidence for living things on nearby planets, meteors,
and comets.
Although billions of dollars have been spent in the search
for extraterrestrial life, none has been found.
Mars
Several unmanned exploration probes, rovers, and landers
have been sent to Mars to determine if our closest rocky neighbor supports life
or may have harbored it in the past.
NASA’s Phoenix lander identified water in a sample of
martian soil.
Another NASA space probe identified specific minerals that
suggested liquid water had been present on the martian surface for a longer
period of time then previously estimated.
Scott Murchie of Johns Hopkins University stated, “This is
an exciting discovery because it extends the time range for liquid water on
Mars, and the places where it might have supported life.”
Although water is certainly needed for life to exist,
water alone does not result in life.
Other
components of martian rocks and soil make the likelihood of finding life very
unlikely. NASA’s Opportunity rover produced evidence that rocks had once been
in an environment that was very salty and acidic.
Dr. Andrew Knoll, biologist at Harvard University, stated,
“It was really salty — in fact, it was salty enough that only a handful of
known terrestrial organisms would have a ghost of a chance of surviving there
when conditions were at their best.”
Methane,
a gas associated with biological activity (think belching cows!), has been
found in the martian atmosphere.
Colin Pillinger, planetary scientist at the Open
University (UK), stated, “The most obvious source of methane is organisms. So
if you find methane in an atmosphere, you can suspect there is life. It’s not
proof, but it makes it worth a much closer look.”
However, Nick Pope, formerly associated with the British
Government’s UFO project at the Ministry of Defense, thinks methane is proof,
calling this discovery “the most important discovery of all time,” and saying
further, “We’ve really only scratched the surface — it’s an absolute certainty
that there is life out there and we are not alone.”
The
biological source of methane is believed to be bacteria living deep
underground.
However, it could also be due to volcanism or an unknown
geological process on Mars since “plumes” of methane were identified in 2003
and the distribution of methane was found to be patchy.
If the methane is of geological origin then it would
actually make the martian surface very inhospitable for life.
Moons of Jovian Planets
Several
moons of Jupiter and Saturn, including Europa, Titan, and Enceladus, are
thought to be possible sources of extraterrestrial life.
All are thought to have interior oceans that might harbor
bacterial life.
Plumes containing water vapor erupting from Enceladus have
been shown to contain organic molecules such as methane, formaldehyde, ethanol,
and other hydrocarbons.
Europa’s
underground oceans are predicted to be violent. The waves generated in these
oceans are postulated to provide an energy source necessary for life.
Robert Tyler, an oceanographer at the University of
Washington, stated, “The big thing is to have liquid water — and to the extent
that this new paper [on violent oceans in Europa] adds an energy source, all
the better for life’s prospects.”
But water plus organic molecules plus energy does not
equal life. Life requires information (DNA), and information requires an
intelligent source (God).
Comets
Scientists
have made calculations (based on cosmological time frames of billions of years)
that in the past, comets had liquid water interiors.
NASA’s Stardust spacecraft collected samples from the dust
of comet Wild 2 and found the amino acid glycine (the simplest of all amino
acids).
Carl Pilcher, director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute,
stated, “The discovery of glycine in a comet supports the idea that the
fundamental building blocks are prevalent in space, and strengthens the
argument that life in the universe may be common rather than rare.”
This seems to be an overstatement since only 1 amino acid
of the 20 required for life was found and other components for life such as
DNA, fats, and sugars have not been found.
Again, the formula of water plus amino acids (or other
organic molecules) does not equal life.
Life
has not yet been found in outer space and it is unlikely to exist because
conditions appear too hostile for even the hardiest forms of life to exist.
Even if the ingredients necessary for life (organic
molecules like amino acids) were transported to earth and added to water and an
energy source, life would not miraculously emerge.
Life only comes from life, and life only from the
Life-Giver.
If Life Did Exist in Outer Space,
Could It Have Been Transferred to Earth?
Panspermia is the
common name given to the concept that life originated in outer space and then
migrated or was transported to earth.
Panspermia is not a new idea. Lord Kelvin in 1871
suggested that life came to earth on meteors.
Svante Arrhenius coined the term in 1908 and is considered
the father of panspermia. We will look at the three categories mentioned in the
previous section and determine if transfer of life from these sources to earth
is plausible.
Mars
Several
meteors of suspected martian origin have been discovered on earth.
It is estimated that 5–10 percent of martian ejecta
(derived from impacts by comets or asteroids) would reach earth in 100 million
years (with the minimum amount of time being seven months).
Small ejecta (> 1 cm) could arrive on earth as
meteorites with a burnt outer area but an inner cool area where bacteria could
presumably survive.
But of the known martian meteorites, M.J. Burchell of the
Centre for Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences at the University of Kent (UK),
says that “given their size and transfer times (estimated from exposure to
radiation in space), all will have received a sterilizing radiation dose during
their transit to earth.”
Moons of Jovian Planets
Impacts
of these moons by comets or asteroids are also thought to generate ejecta that
could then travel to other locations (but not directly to earth).
The ejecta are postulated to travel farther into space and
possibly be transferred to comets or asteroids.
The bacteria would presumably survive in the icy interior
of the comets/asteroids.
The comets/asteroids could then travel to earth and so indirectly
bring life from the Jovian moons.
Comets
During
their travel close to a planet, comets could leave behind dust grains that
would fall into planetary atmospheres.
If life existed in the dust grains and could survive
travel through the atmosphere, then presumably a comet could transfer life to
earth.
The
transfer of material from Mars, Jovian moons, and comets is plausible and in
some cases has been documented.
However, dust and rocks are not affected by the extreme
cold and radiation of outer space, whereas life would be and would probably not
survive the journey to earth.
Since life has not been found to exist in outer space it
is doubtful life was transferred to earth from these locations.
Could Life Have Been Brought to Earth
by Intelligent Extraterrestrial Aliens?
The
concept that aliens brought life to earth is called directed panspermia.
The term was first coined by the co-discoverer of the
structure of DNA, Francis Crick, and Leslie Orgel in 1973.
They postulated that since earth is relatively young
compared to the rest of the universe that it was conceivable that a
technologically advanced society in outer space developed even before earth
existed (since it only took 4.5 billions years for a technological society to
form on earth).
Crick and Orgel believe that this alien society then
seeded or “infected” other parts of outer space including earth with primitive
forms of life (like bacteria).
In their 1973 paper they propose the spaceship payload,
the mechanisms needed to protect the bacteria for their long trip to earth, and
possible motivations by the alien society for seeding life in outer space.
One of their main evidences to support this possibility
comes from the similarity of the genetic code in all living things.
They stated, “The universality of the genetic code follows
naturally from an ‘infective’ theory of the origins of life. Life on earth
would represent a clone derived from a single extraterrestrial organism.”
The universality of the genetic code only follows
“naturally” from their theory because of their presuppositions or starting point
that their ideas about the past are supreme to God’s Word concerning the
history of the origin of life on earth.
When we begin with God’s Word we see that the universality
of the genetic code follows naturally from a common Designer who created all
living things by His Word.
The
concept of directed panspermia is still advocated by many scientists today.
In the movie Expelled, Ben Stein asked Richard Dawkins, a very
prominent evolutionary biologist, the question, “What do you think is the
possibility that . . . intelligent design might turn out to be the
answer to some issues in genetics or in evolution?”
Dawkins’s
reply:
Well it could come about in the following way: it could be
that at some earlier time somewhere in the universe a civilization evolved by,
probably by, some kind of Darwinian means to a very, very high level of
technology and designed a form of life that they seeded onto perhaps this this [sic] planet. Now
that is a possibility and an intriguing possibility. And I suppose it’s
possible that you might find evidence for that if you look at the, at the
detail . . . details of our chemistry molecular biology you might
find a signature of some sort of designer.
Burchell
stated, “At present, Panspermia can neither be proved nor disproved.
Nevertheless, Panspermia is an intellectual idea which holds strong attraction.”
Sadly, this is true for many who want to exclude God and
the history presented in His Word in deference to their own ideas about the
past — no matter how outlandish.
Could God Have Created Life on
Planets Other than Earth?
Yes,
but why? Remember that God spent the vast majority of the creation week
preparing the earth for the crowning glory of His creation — man.
Everything God created was for man’s benefit and
enjoyment.
Even those things which we don’t often consider, like
bacteria, were created to benefit man.
Bacteria can accomplish this directly through symbiotic
relationships in our guts, which help us digest food, and indirectly through
cycling of nutrients and chemicals in the environment.
Man would seem to gain no benefit or enjoyment from
bacteria that exist in outer space.
Although we can’t rule out that some form of
non-intelligent life, such as bacteria, was created on another planet, it seems
unlikely knowing the purposes of living organisms and their relationship to man
on earth set forth by the Creator God.
Dr. Georgia Purdom holds a PhD in molecular genetics from
The Ohio State University. She formerly served as an assistant and associate
professor of biology at Mt. Vernon Nazarene University. Dr. Purdom is the
director of Educational Content and actively speaks and writes for Answers in
Genesis.
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