In an interesting new study, it has been revealed that cosmic rays passing through space may be serving themselves as food to alien life found on the Earth as well as other planets.
This observation was made after a study that was conducted on bacterium living deep inside a South African dark gold mine, claims Science World Report. It suggested that extreme microbes living in hostile places of the earth might be feeding off the galactic cosmic rays. Similar behavior could also be present in alien life, if it existed on other planets such as Mars.
According to Dimitra Atri, lead author of the study and a researcher at The Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, galactic cosmic rays have enormous energy and they can penetrate even through the surface of the planets, which causes chemical reactions.
These chemical reactions have the qualities that make them suitable for consumption by life forms and if they are present on Mars or Jupiter's moon Europa, they could use it. He further said that organisms with the ability to survive on galactic cosmic rays could also be present on rogue planets that drift throughout the interstellar space and are not bound by any star.
The study focused on the bacterium Candidatus Desulforudis audaxviator, which is found about 2.8 kilometers deep and it was seen that it lived off the energy from radioactive isotopes of thorium, uranium, and potassium in the rocks present over there, reports NDTV. The ionizing radiations from these isotopes break down water in the area into hydrogen gas, which is then used by the bacterium as fuel. It helps in the generation of biologically useful molecules.
Atri made use of computer simulations to study the galactic cosmic rays in detail and found that they possess much higher energy than other sources of radiation on Earth. Though rare, they could provide a steady flow of energy for underground life.
Also, this energy has it in itself to be compared to the one emitted by radioactive substances on earth and the intriguing aspect was that it could extend to potential life on other planets as well.
