BBC Focus Magazine

[DMG]

Is it theoretically possible,for a creature of some sort to live in Space,and not on a world of any shape or form?

[M Paul Lloyd]

Well humans manage ok...................... but that's not quite what you meant is it?
I suspect you are thinking more along the lines of say a Duinuogwuin or star-dragon perhaps?

I can imagine this being the case 'in theory' , say a creature that has somehow evolved to the point where it can travel into space, possibly returning to its home-world to feed and spawn or whatever, but the idea of something actually evolving in space..... that seems a lot less feasible somehow.

Perhaps out there somewhere vast clouds of gas and dust exist in sufficient density to allow life to evolve but I'm not putting any bets on it.

[Shadowwolf]

...say a creature that has somehow evolved to the point where it can travel into space, possibly returning to its home-world to feed and spawn or whatever,

My only issue is how a creature evolves the ability to reach escape velocity or the capacity to live in a cold vacuum, the conditions to give rise to that don't seem entirely feasible.

To live naturally in space without being cloaked in technology would as far as I can see require that life to have originated in the void in the first place or survived being blasted off its home planet via massive impact and somehow not only survive but thrive. Even if this were technically plausible the chances would be very slim, much less than the chances of life arising on a suitable planet.

[M Paul Lloyd]

It does rather stretch the boundaries of reason doesn't it?

But if evolution can produce things like the Bombadier Beetle, Tardigrades and such I'm prepared to believe that on a world very unlike our own where the boundaries between planet and space are less well defined?? Well imagination does have to step in but I am certain that reality can often trump the wildest fiction.

[DMG]

Aye the idea is a bit daft really.I had imagined a creature similar to one of those big basking sharks,just going around with its mouth wide open,eating god knows what.Crazy.

[Shadowwolf]

It's unlikely to evolve but I wonder could one be engineered, something akin to the Tyranid Hive* fleets bio-engineered living vessels for intergalactic transportation.


* - Yes a certain sci-fi shows species 8472 might be more recognisable, but let us speak no more of that abomination.

[M Paul Lloyd]

bio-engineered living vessels

Now there's a thought, a bio-ship, I seem to recall reading a short story in some Sci-fi mag of old that refered to such a thing, and later I'm pretty sure one featured in a Dr. Who series. The name Dolan rings a bell??
I rather like the idea of something that was introduced by such a bio-engineered alien space vessel, a form of organic, bacteria laden contamination if you like, that clings slime-like to any passing sugar molecules that happen to be orbiting a nearby star within a gas cloud of sorts and then maybe they might evolve a little bit?

[geordiebelle]

Why not? The premise has been of life coming from an established ecosystem of some terrestrial origin. Space however, is not an empty void. It is not devoid of energy.
There is one theory that planets such as our own Earth may have been seeded by microbes of extraterrestraial sources such as Comets, asteroids or even Mars. These would have had to cross space and survive. There is nowhere on Earth, even in the most inhospitable conditions, where life cannot be found. Is it not possible therefore, there could be some form of elemental life in space?

[M Paul Lloyd]

A valid point geordiebelle, but the question here is could the elemental building blocks of life find a suitable environment 'out there' in space that would not only sustain it but also allow it to evolve into something we would recognise as 'life' ??


"It's life Jim... but not as we know it.. "

[MikeG]

Anaerobic bacteria, and even multicellular organisms (deep sea worms) exist that don't need oxygen to survive. Other organisms are resistant to radiation. So in theory, something could live in a vacuum.

[M Paul Lloyd]

I'm with you there Mike and given the vastness and inherent diversity of space environments I'm inclined to think that if the right sort of conditions exist then indeed 'why not?' and given the vastness of space and the evidence we are finding (gas clouds, sugar etc) well goodness knows what might be out there, even possibly a sentient ice based entity within some ancient cometary object as
I suggested some years back on the old forum???

[MikeG]

In Babylon5 a number of races had bio ships. An amusing quote I've read regarding bio ships is one stating that the Earth itself is an organic spacecraft populated with talking monkeys flying through space, which is quite spot on.

[M Paul Lloyd]

Starship Earth no less.