ESA Portal - Live long and prosper, Xanthoria elegans

The fact that living organisms do survive in open space seems to support the idea of panspermia – life spreading from planet to another, or even between solar systems. “The loose end in this theory is now arrival at a planet, because no living thing can survive the fiery entry through an atmosphere,” Demets says. “But possibly deep inside a space rock the conditions are better. Therefore we’re now thinking of an astrobiology experiment involving a return to Earth”.