John Matson, in an article on scientificamerican.com, has written about extraterrestrial dust containing prebiotic compounds (compounds which, in the right conditions, could potentially form simple single cell organisms). The following is an excerpt from the article:
A new analysis in the May 7 issue of Science comes from a France-based team working at Antarctica's Concordia base that uncovered well-preserved meteorite samples from beneath the surface. The researchers dug up snow from decades past, which fell before the site had a potentially contaminating human presence. Therein they found so-called micrometeorites—tiny specks just a fraction of a millimeter across that nonetheless carry important clues to the birth and evolution of the solar system.
The appearance of new life forms whether terrestrial, extra-terrestrial or synthesized in a lab, provide possibilities for a range of stories for cinema and fiction. The life forms could be useful, harmful, controlled by a select few, widely dispersed and beyond the control of governments, etc.
The Voyager 1 probe, launched in 1977, crossed into interstellar space in
2012 — but it will still take many thousands of years to exit the Oort
Cloud, meaning it has technically left the solar system and is nowhere near
leaving the solar system at the same time
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[image: Logarithmic NASA diagram showing Voyager 1 beyond the heliopause
but far inside the distant Oort Cloud]
Voyager 1 crossed the Sun's plasma boundary...
1 hour ago
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