Astronomers await ISRO test results

pune: intrigued by the discovery of living cells at an altitude of 41 km in the upper reaches of the stratosphere, astronomers and biologists from india and britain are now awaiting detailed results of the indian space research organisation (isro) balloon cryosampler experiment. well-known astrophysicist and group leader of the indo-british project, jayant v.narlikar said that the results of the experiment would hold a significant bearing on theories relating to the origin of life on earth. while prof. narlikar explained the prevailing hypothesis that the life on earth resulted from a chemical reaction, eminent british astronomers fred hoyle and chandra wickramasinghe proposed that the life on earth "may not have a terrestrial origin but may have been planted through micro-organisms dumped on the earth through comets and meteors." "the results of our experiment will have great significance on our ideas of the origin and existence of life in the universe," prof narlikar said while speaking to reporters here on wednesday. "the discovery that there is life at an altitude of 41 km is intriguing," prof narlikar said. he said that scientists at the cardiff centre for astrobiology, the cardiff school of biological sciences and the centre for cellular and molecular biology at hyderabad were now conducting detailed experiments including dna sequencing to ascertain the nature of the living cells found by the isro probes. "our preliminary findings suggest that the living cells that we have encountered do not have a terrestrial origin," prof narlikar said. he said since there was no drastic reduction in the number of living cells found at a height of 20 km and 41 km during the experiment, "we have to assume that something is falling from above." "what these living cells are yet to be decided," prof narlikar, who heads the inter-university centre for astronomy and astrophysics here said. he said the results would help ascertain whether the living systems "are known or new bacteria." the participants in the indo-british experiment included cardiff centre for astrobiology scientists melanie j harris, n c wickramasinghe, s. al-mufti, max k wallis and f hoyle , david lloyd and michael p turner from the cardiff school of biological sciences, prof narlikar from pune's iucaa, p rajaratnam from the indian space research organisation (isro) and s ramadurai from the tata institute for fundamental research.