I've been doing some reading on cryptoendoliths, microbes that survive in harsh regions by occupying spaces inside rocks where conditions can be much more clement.

I wonder how far this survival mechanism could be pushed?
For example, could a piece of terran rock set adrift in space support active life? If the rock contains sealed pores holding water and nutrients, and has similar orbit to earth allowing it to be warmed by solar radiation, why couldn't microbes within those pores carry on as if nothing had happened? Obviously their supplies will run out eventually, but until then you'd have a very small alien world.....

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For me it's enough for the garden to be beautifull; why do so many want to see fairies at the bottom?

"Many of those people are not getting four when adding two and two; many of them aren't even getting five or twenty-two. They're getting potato."
Gillianren

I hope I am not mistaken--- but, if I remember correctly, there was an incident reported that some human-borne bacteria hitched rides during the 1960's on board space probes (? the moon)---I searched for it on Google (just not now--but could not find the exact instance)

Maybe someone in the forum can provide assistance??

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"The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir."
---Carl Sagan

What if one set some radioactive elements in it to keep feeding the little superstrong microbial ecosystem energy?

Preventing the necessary water freezing on one hand, or evaporating into space on the other, is a problem conveniently overcome by gravity.

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plenty of woo, at the hotel hoagaland...

If there is a small sealed cavity containing water just beneath the surface of the rock, and on the orbit the rock is on solar heating brings the rocks temperature at that depth into the range for liquid water then what do we need gravity for?
Eventually it will seep out through microdefects in the rock but meteorites from mars have still contained martian atmosphere in sealed vesicals after millions to billions of years in space. Why should water be any different?

Depending on whats dissolved within the water the range over which it is liquid could be +100 deg c down to -90,and thats not accounting for the pressure conditions inside our sealed cavity. I realise that what I'm suggesting would depend on our cavity bearing rock being just right, and its orbit just so, but I can't think of reason why it would be impossible. Even a rock which passed periodically through the goldilocks zone and spent most of it's time in the outer solar system might allow microbes to metabolise and repair DNA damage.

Cosmic and solar radiation might provide a source of energy, I believe I've heard of microorganisms that feed off naturally occuring radiation on earth, as might naturall radiactive elements in the rock. And I wonder if there are unintended niches on any of our satellites where microbes might maintain an active metabolism?

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For me it's enough for the garden to be beautifull; why do so many want to see fairies at the bottom?

"Many of those people are not getting four when adding two and two; many of them aren't even getting five or twenty-two. They're getting potato."
Gillianren

see this wiki article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveyor_3
and this one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reports...is_on_the_moon

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