Heidelberg 2006 – scientific programme
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EP: Extraterrestrische Physik
EP 19: Astrobiologie
EP 19.4: Fachvortrag
Thursday, March 16, 2006, 15:00–15:15, B
Could microorganisms survive an impact ejection? — •Ralf Möller1,2, Gerda Horneck1, Dieter Stöffler3, Sieglinde Ott4, Ulrich Hornemann5, Cornelia Meyer1,3, Jean-Pierre de Vera4, and Jörg Fritz3 — 1German Aerospace Center, Institute of Aeropace Medicine, D 51170 Köln — 2German Resource Centre for Biological Material, Braunschweig — 3Institute of Mineralogy, Humboldt University, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10099 Berlin — 4Institute of Botany, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf — 5Ernst Mach Institute for Short-time Dynamics, Freiburg
For testing the *lithopanspermia* - theory, i.e. the hypothetical transport of life between planets, e.g., Mars and Earth, by means of meteorites, we have performed shock wave recovery experiments with bacterial endospores and epilithic and cryptoendolithic microbial associations. It was found that survival of the microbes exponentially decreased for shock pressures from 10 to 50 GPa which is the range of pressures experienced by the known Martian meteorites. In future experiments, we will simulate the conditions of the Mars surface during impact ejection (mineral composition, temperature). The actual shock pressure of the recovered samples will be determined by refractive index measurements. The recovered microorganisms will be analyzed by molecular biological methods, SEM, and confocal laser microscopy to characterize possible effects of mechanical stress and to determine the underlying molecular mechanisms by gene expression analysis. (The project is supported by grants of the DFG to G. Horneck and D. Stoeffler).