Did Chandrayaan Find Organic Matter On the Moon? 141
Matt_dk writes "Surendra Pal, associate director of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Satellite Centre says that Chandrayaan-1 picked up signatures of organic matter on parts of the Moon's surface. 'The findings are being analyzed and scrutinized for validation by ISRO scientists and peer reviewers,' Pal said. At a press conference Tuesday at the American Geophysical Union fall conference, scientists from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter also hinted at possible organics locked away in the lunar regolith. When asked directly about the Chandrayaan-1 claim of finding life on the Moon, NASA's chief lunar scientist, Mike Wargo, certainly did not dismiss the idea."
Impact (Score:2, Interesting)
I wonder if there was life on Earth before it was struck by the object that "splashed" to become the moon? If so, could it mean that life has developed here twice?
Why is this surprising? (Score:3, Interesting)
Assuming the theory of "panspermia" is a reasonably close to accurate description of how life arrived on earth (Amino acids and water carried inside asteroids brought life to Earth) and knowing that the Moon has acted as an Asteroid barrier for BILLIONS of years, is it all that surprising that we would ALSO find "organic signatures" on the moon?
Indeed, one would almost EXPECT to find them there.
Re:"Life" or "organics"? (Score:3, Interesting)
One of the Minervans?
Re:Hey look what we found! (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually, it's really interesting news, if confirmed and if the organics are in quantity. Many people know that the moon has historically been viewed as having a shortage of hydrogen (the amount of water found recently was still pretty sparse). Most people don't know that there are also shortages of other elements critical to life, including carbon and nitrogen. Finding places on the moon where they could be found in greater concentration would be critical to long-term, sustainable human habitation.