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Comment by jonnycomputer | Hacker News Reader

I would imagine therefore that Earth's micro-organims occasionally land on the surface of the moon.

Not a particularly hospital place the moon. But if it were made of cheese, it'd probably be green by now. (:

Would any be theoretically viable? I imagine a cyst gets blown into space from time to time but wouldn't last long in a radiation filled vacuum. Solar UV radiation is intense without the atmosphere. It's why space suit visors look reflective and why spaceships tend to always be white or shiny.

Bonus: myth: space is dark. You don't get the omnipresent lit sky effect since there is no atmosphere to scatter the light but if you are anywhere near a star it is blindingly bright... in the star's direction.

I do not know. But, there have been experiments, and some microbes are more durable than expected.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_microorganisms_tested_...

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qkvk33/bacteria-a...

and... well... the moon has been there a while.

> I would imagine therefore that Earth's micro-organims occasionally land on the surface of the moon.

Only on the moon? They might be hit by space debris and travel through space to other planet's atmospheres.

I'd think that's highly unlikely as the geocorona is mostly sparse hydrogen atoms; I doubt even viruses can float in a hydrogen atmosphere, let alone micro-organisms.

The smallest virus [1] is to a hydrogen atom what a T-34 tank is to a ping pong ball. Ping pong balls tend to not lift tanks off the ground, especially if it’s not a lot of them ...

[1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallest_organisms

hospitable* ?

Tardigrades beat us there?

Tardigrades beat us here

Naturally. But I thought we had em beat in terms of rocket propulsion.

Hilarious fact!

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