Worrying news about where alien life might be hiding

A new study from the US and Canada has found that the 'shadow craters' at the Moon's poles could be teeming with life. And that's bad news.

These aliens may have originated from. Earth., related to the unexpected incidents.

Shackleton crater on the Moon in a brightened image - Photo: NASA

Inside the 'dark pits' is eternal darkness, because their angle means that light can never shine inside. But there are microorganisms that can thrive perfectly well in this environment.

Speaking to Universe Today, Associate Professor Dr. John Moores from the Center for Earth and Space Science Research at York University (Canada) said these "dark holes" have been overlooked in previous studies of life.

One of the main reasons for this omission is that modeling the ultraviolet radiation environment there is very complicated. However, a colleague of Professor Moores, Dr. Jacob Kloos from the University of Maryland (USA), found a way.

Using a sophisticated lighting model based on what spacecraft collected from two craters on the Moon, named Shackleton and Faustini.

They found that the lack of sunlight, combined with the Moon's lack of atmosphere and direct exposure to a vacuum, created "cold pockets" in which bacteria could survive.

But these alien creatures did not appear on the Moon by themselves, but were accidentally "seeded" by humans.

This biological contamination is caused by Earth's spaceships. As many studies have shown, some microorganisms are capable of hitching rides on spaceships, surviving the journey from Earth to this nearest celestial body.

"Bacteria in space are usually killed by high temperatures and ultraviolet radiation. But these craters are very cold and very dark, making them one of the most protective environments in the solar system for the types of bacteria that often cling to spacecraft," Associate Professor Moores explained.

This alien life may not be able to reproduce and grow into a large population in the harsh conditions of the Moon, but it could still continue to exist for decades until its spores are destroyed by the effects of the vacuum.

Contamination by alien life on a celestial body could hamper scientific missions, creating confusing data in the hunt for "native" life on that celestial body.

That concern is not unheard of. NASA has an 'Office of Planetary Protection,' which oversees the sterilization and cleaning of spacecraft before launch, as well as ensuring that returning spacecraft do not bring back alien microbes.

Marvin Fry

Update 19 April 2025