# Moss Piglets on the moon. Case for prosecution of offending organisation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 7, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297 "2019-08-07T15:29:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/21 "2019-08-08T02:41:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Which isn’t even getting into the basic absurdity of panspermia, namely, that if life didn’t come from Earth, then it must have come from somewhere even more improbable. Asking honestly, is this really that absurd? Couldn’t something like the posited Theia or another Earth trojan have had the origins of life at the time of collision? Not suggesting that it’s probable, and I understand the “pushing it around the plate” concept (and basically agree with it) but from a lay persons view it doesn’t seem “absurd”. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/22 "2019-08-08T02:57:27Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Asking honestly, is this really that absurd? Couldn’t something like the posited Theia or another Earth trojan have had the origins of life at the time of collision? Not suggesting that it’s probable, and I understand the “pushing it around the plate” concept (and basically agree with it) but from a lay persons view it doesn’t seem “absurd”. Could have, sure, but all the melting would have done them in. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/23 "2019-08-08T03:10:54Z")
Except that the usual justification for panspermia is that it’s too unlikely for life to arise on Earth. Sure, life might have arisen on some other Solar System object, but none of them is a _more_ likely candidate. Or, if it came from outside of the Solar System, then you have to push the origin of life much further back in time, to a time when the Universe was even less hospitable, to account for the time needed for it to cross interstellar distances. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/24 "2019-08-08T05:44:51Z")
Ah, makes sense. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/25 "2019-08-08T06:02:39Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > US law is relevant here because the mission concerned originated in the US - it took of from Cape Canaveral, courtesy of US company Spaceflight Industries, which provided and operated the launch vehicle. The mission payload doesn’t escape US jurisdiction on the basis of being owned by a non-US agency. Except that NASA doesn’t have the ability to prosecute anyone. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/26 "2019-08-08T06:44:44Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Except that NASA doesn’t have the ability to prosecute anyone. I wouldn’t assume that. It’s entirely possible that NASA’s statutory functions include the prosecution of offences under the relevant legislation. And, even if it doesn’t, NASA could easily act as complainant in getting prosecution authorities to proceed. Collequially, we might well speak of that as NASA prosecuting the offence. The point is moot since, it seems, there is no offence to prosecute. The relevant US law doesn’t prohibit missions which carry living organisms to the moon. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/27 "2019-08-08T09:23:52Z")
> [@Nansbread1](#): > > [Tardigrades: 'Water bears' stuck on the moon after crash - BBC News](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-49265125) > > This news item suggests that an Israeli organisation introduced a number of dehydrated Tardigrades aka moss piglets or water bears to the moon in April 2019. These are indestructible multi cellular organisms capable of regenerating back to life. > > Did they acquire permission to do this? Why did they think this was a good idea. What kind of punishment is appropriate? The organization that sent the tardigrades, [the Arch Mission Foundation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_Mission_Foundation), is American, not Israeli. And why are you assuming that a crime was committed? Other than the fact that Israelis were involved, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/28 "2019-08-08T10:12:26Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > I’ll take tardigrades on the moon over whalers on the moon. How do you feel about Amazon women on the moon? > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > In fact, have any of the Panspermia theorists considered the possibility that tardigrades might be the vehicle through which our planet gave rise to (eventually) Homo Sapiens? Someone’s been watching _Star Trek: Discovery_, I see. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/29 "2019-08-08T11:26:04Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Someone’s been watching _Star Trek: Discovery_, I see. Probably. Not me, of course, but yeah, probably someone. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/30 "2019-08-08T12:04:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Gyrate** : > > How do you feel about Amazon women on the moon? Were they delivered there by drone? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/31 "2019-08-08T12:20:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Impossible. All known life on Earth is related, as evidenced by the shared genetic code. If life arrived on Earth via panspermia rather than arising locally, then the organism that landed must be the common ancestor of all current life, including forms much simpler than tardigrades. This argument isn’t really sound without the unstated assumption that evolution is incapable of producing a simpler organism from a more complicated one. But I don’t think that assumption is correct. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/32 "2019-08-08T12:30:39Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > I’ll take tardigrades on the moon over whalers on the moon. But do [they have a song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60BjkUtqxPE)? I can’t decide until I’ve heard them both. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/33 "2019-08-08T12:33:25Z")
Evolution can and does produce simple organisms out of complicated ones. But there are always telltale signs of that. Those signs all point in the wrong direction for Earthly life. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/34 "2019-08-08T13:21:50Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > I wouldn’t assume that. It’s entirely possible that NASA’s statutory functions include the prosecution of offences under the relevant legislation. And, even if it doesn’t, NASA could easily act as complainant in getting prosecution authorities to proceed. Collequially, we might well speak of that as NASA prosecuting the offence. > > The point is moot since, it seems, there is no offence to prosecute. The relevant US law doesn’t prohibit missions which carry living organisms to the moon. The original NASA Act was the [National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-72/pdf/STATUTE-72-Pg426-2.pdf). That did give NASA the right to set regulations and provide for penalties. THough prosecutuion was to be done by the US Government. The current law is[Title 51 US Code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_51_of_the_United_States_Code). As as aside, American statutes are hell to follow. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/35 "2019-08-08T13:36:07Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Probably. > > Not me, of course, but yeah, probably someone. Well, you’ve managed to land [close to one of their plot points](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Tardigrade_(alien)) anyway. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/36 "2019-08-08T15:26:18Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > How do you feel about Amazon women on the moon? > [@Chronos](#): > > Were they delivered there by drone? Well, they [will be](https://spacenews.com/blue-origin-unveils-lunar-lander/). ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/37 "2019-08-08T15:33:18Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > “Where did life come from?” > > “Easy: Outer space! It came here on a comet! Problem solved!” > > “But that doesn’t solve anything! It just pushes it out to wherever the comet came from.” > > “_Problem. Solved._” > > You can’t solve a problem by pushing it around on your plate a little bit. But that does solve the broccoli conundrum. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/38 "2019-08-08T15:54:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Which isn’t even getting into the basic absurdity of panspermia, namely, that if life didn’t come from Earth, then it must have come from somewhere even more improbable. Tardigrades would tend to explain certain elements of Vulcan prehistory. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/39 "2019-08-08T17:15:19Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Tardigrades would tend to explain certain elements of Vulcan prehistory. ^:dubious:^ ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297/40 "2019-08-08T23:48:24Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > The original NASA Act was the [National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-72/pdf/STATUTE-72-Pg426-2.pdf). > That did give NASA the right to set regulations and provide for penalties. THough prosecutuion was to be done by the US Government. > > The current law is[Title 51 US Code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_51_of_the_United_States_Code). > > As as aside, American statutes are hell to follow. In the criminal justice system, space based offenses are considered especially heinous. In NASA, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as Space Force Investigations. These are their stories. DONK DONK [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moss-piglets-on-the-moon-case-for-prosecution-of-offending-organisation/838297.md?page=3)