What is the chance of finding life on Comet 67P?

Factual Questions
1

Is there any serious speculation that life or its building blocks might be found on Comet 67P?

2

Building blocks, maybe.

Life? Unlikely, since its hard to imagine life that can survive at cryogenic temperatures.

3

I think that searching for building blocks was one of the elements of the mission.

4

Comet 67P is too small.
It takes at least a giant asteroid to support life.

5

These are two very, VERY different questions. Life? Almost certainly not. Near absolute zero temperatures most of the time, negligible gravity, no atmosphere, few resources. It would be fantastically implausible. Building blocks? What do you mean by that? Carbon? Sure. Water? You betcha. Nucleic acids? Amino acids? Probably not, but it’d be interesting to check.

6

There’s a difference between finding an active ecosystem and finding organisms. It is at least possible that viable organisms might be found in deep freeze within the icy components of a comet.

It’s one of the proposed propagation methods for the panspermia hypothesis - organisms such as hardy bacteria being ferried about on ice within comets - then being deposited on planets when they pass by.

The organisms don’t have to originate on the comet, or even in space - they might arise on planets such as Earth and be blown out of the top of the atmosphere, or they might arise on wet moons of gas giants, where the gravity is lower and it’s easier to depart.

Panspermia is only a hypothesis, but it’s worth looking closely at comets to try to test the idea.

7

Comets certainly have the elements of life. And amino acids have been found off of the Earth in environments that have the right elements and which aren’t too hot, so it wouldn’t be at all surprising to find them in comets, either. Much beyond that, though, is unlikely.

8

Since the probe is designed to look for chemicals like amino acids but not to actually analyze for orgamisms, the odds are that Philae would not find signs of life even if it was there. Not unless the Little Prince came and posed in front of the camera of course.

9

Because you HAD to bring HIM up, I have to bring THIS up…

10

Heh.

Maybe we’ll find a hat …