Panspermia: Astrobiology Space Missions to seed
the Galaxies with Life


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Directed Panspermia
~  Technical Considerations  ~
Strategies and Motivation for Seeding Star-Forming Clouds

Panspermia Society (SOLIS) is dedicated to promoting life in space through Directed Panspermia, by seeding new planets in young Solar Systems and clusters of stars in interstellar clouds, through astrobiology space missions starting in 2050


Contents
Technical Sections

 Introduction
 Target Environments
  The Swarm Strategy
  Propulsion and Launch
  Astrometry and Targeting
  Capture at the Target Zone
  Design of Capsule Size
  Target Selections/Probability
      Dark Cloud Fragment
      Protostellar Condensation
      Accretion Disks/Planets
      Biomass Requirements
      Missions to Nearby Stars
      Survival/Growth in Comets         
Biological Considerations
Advanced Missions
Resource Requirements
Using Comets as Vehicles
Conclusions

 

Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 1997, 50, 93-102.

Michael N. Mautner, Department of Chemistry
Department of Chemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz, California  95064 and Department of Chemistry University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8001, New Zealand**

E-mail: solis@eco88.com
**S-mail to this address.
Reprint available by request

Abstract Microbial swarms aimed at star-forming regions of interstellar clouds can seed stellar associations of 10 - 100 young planetary systems. Swarms of millimeter size, milligram packets can be launched by 35 cm solar sails at 5E-4 c, to penetrate interstellar clouds. Selective capture in high-density planetary accretion zones of densities > 1E-17 kg m-3 is achieved by viscous drag. Strategies are evaluated to seed dense cloud cores, or individual protostellar condensations, accretion disks or young planets therein. Targeting the Ophiuchus cloud is described as a model system. The biological content, dispersed in 30 m m, 1E-10 kg capsules of 1E6 freeze-dried microorganisms each, may be captured by new planets or delivered to planets after incorporation first into carbonaceous asteroids and comets. These objects, as modelled by meteorite materials, contain biologically available organic and mineral nutrients that are shown to sustain microbial growth. The program may be driven by panbiotic ethics, predicated on:

  1. the unique position of complex organic life amongst the structures of Nature;
  2. self-propagation as the basic propensity of the living pattern
  3. the biophysical unity humans with of the organic, DNA/protein family of life; and
  4. consequently, the primary human purpose to safeguard and propagate our organic life-form.

This purpose may be best secured through a panbiotic program which may ultimately endow Life with universal consequence. Launched toward such purpose, panspermia missions with diverse microbial payloads will maximise the probability of survival and induce evolutionary pressures. In particular, eukaryotes and simple multicellular organisms can accelerate higher evolution. Statistical considerations based on the geometries and masses of star-forming regions suggest that the 1E24 kg carbon resources of one solar system, possibly ours, applied during its 5E9 yr lifespan, can seed all newly forming planetary systems in the galaxy.

1. Introduction Panspermia, natural or directed, is a possible mechanism for the spread of life through interstellar space [1-7]. In fact, we may be already capable to use solar sail technology for seeding nearby new planetary systems with our DNA/protein form of life [4-6]. The program can become realistic in decades, due to rapid advances in high-precision astrometry, advanced propulsion, discovery of extrasolar planetary systems, and microbial genetic engineering [5].  An essential component for realising directed panspermia is the ethical motivation. Seeding distant planets with life is the ultimate altruism, bearing results long after the generations that implement it. The ethical motivation for such a program must recognise (1) the unique position of complex, self-propagating organic Life in Nature; (2) the unity of all organic, cellular DNA/protein life, from microbes to humans and post-humans; (3) and, consequently, the primary human purpose, to safeguard and propagate our life-form [4,5].  Prime targets for biological expansion can be regions of interstellar clouds where newly forming stars and planetary systems are concentrated. The discussion below will consider the physical environments of such regions, and the implications for the microbial missions. The article will survey both the technological and ethical aspects of seeding with life star-forming interstellar clouds.

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