PLANETARY ATMOSPHERIC LIFE?
Report #159
March 11, 2009
Some of you may be aware that for
several months in 2001 a primarily red color rain fell in the south western
state of Kerala in India.
It began on July 25, 2001 and the locals reported that it was preceded by
a loud thunderclap and a flash of light. It appears that the color of the
rainwater was dictated by solid particles in suspension in the water. There
were also other colors but mainly a brownish-red color. There were many of
these red rain occurrences finally diminishing in September, 2001. Since then
there have been others but sporadically.
Frankly, although I had intended to report on this eventually, I had simply
forgotten about it. However, in February, 2009 Linda Moulton Howe of EarthFiles.com
did a good follow-up report on this. This brought it to the attention of a
long time visitor to this site named Rich W_____ who in turn thankfully brought
it back to my attention. This subject offers expanded insight into what is
possible in the planetary scheme of things beyond what we normally accept
as likely or possible. Therefore it is important enough to report on here
bringing increased attention to the possibilities and potential. So let's
get on with it.
The first image below shows samples of the initial rainwater as collected
for analysis demonstrating what the red rain looks like in concentrations.
The second image below is a closer 2-dimensional view of some representative
individual microorganism cells through a microscope. The third image below
is a more 3-dimensional view of the cells via a scanning electron microscope.
Together they give a collective visual concept as to what is being examined
here with respect to the red rain evidence.
Links to the sources of the
above images & some good informative reporting
can be found in the "Documentation" section at the end of this report
The Indian government sponsored initial
research into this phenomena. The consensus initial conclusion reached was
that the particulate in suspension in the rain water was producing the red
color and in fact it is biological life in origin and not inorganic material.
However, this did not get much world wide attention no doubt because the initial
and conventional explanation was mostly that this living organism was likely
lichen originating from the surrounding countryside.
That is until 2003. At that time Dr's. Godfrey Louis an Santhosh Kumar then
physicists at Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam, Kerala
posted their conclusions. This was that the biological cell material came
from a comet that disintegrated over Kerala (explaining the thunderclap and
flash of light) releasing the red particles into the atmosphere to fall to
the ground in rain water.
That extraterrestrial origin concept was of course enough to crank up controversy
but it didn't go very far because there was little supporting data and so
it was of speculative interest mostly in certain areas of the science community.
Then Dr's. Louis and Kumar subsequently published a paper titled "The
Red Fain Phenomenon of Kerala and Its Possible Extraterrestrial Origin"
in the July 4, 2006 journal Astrophysics and Space Science. This level of
perceived legitimacy in conjunction with the extraterrestrial origin claim
aspect caught the media's attention producing a lot of sensational popularized
stories. If you've heard of this before, it is probably via this time period
even though the occurrence itself was several years earlier.
Since then, subsequent analysis by Louis and Kumar indicates that the microorganism
demonstrates the ability to consume and metabolize a wide range of both organic
an inorganic materials giving it tremendous survival potential. Further, it
also generates autofluoresence in multiple colors which is something that
no known biological life on Earth is known to do. This evidence again leans
in favor of the extraterrestrial origin.
However, it doesn't stop there. It appears tests confirm that this microorganism
grows more active and will replicate itself at, ......get
this, up around +300º C or +572º F
and under tremendous pressures. That incredible high temperature is
long after any known Earth based life form will have fried and died. Incredibly
it appears that this organism is just getting into its comfort zone replicating
and proliferating like this at such high temperatures. It appears that the
cell replicates by developing one or more white or colorless offspring within
its cell body and then when they turn a red or darker color (maturity?) they
can extrude through the cell wall forming a new additional cell.
Not only that but the organism has been tested surviving down to
–200º C or –328º F and immersed in liquid nitrogen
without damage . Also add to that survival in very high pressure that Earth
based life could not have survived. Obviously survival in such extreme temperatures
and pressures quickly rules out the initial identification of this organism
as a lichen of any known kind. It is also the same with the autoflouresence
feature.
However, one of the strongest factors that also got the media and science
community attention was Louis and Kumar claims that the extraterrestrial origin
tends to support the scientific "Panspermia"
hypothesis. In basic this hypothesis says that the basic seeds of life exist
all over the Universe and that life for example here on Earth may have originated
through these seeds through dispersal by comets, etc. The red rain organism
could be one type of this "seed." In other words, a seed like this
planted in the earlier much hotter and turbulent age of Earth's planetary
development would have flourished and then later that life here evolved to
fit the changing environment as the Earth cooled and stabilized over so many
millions or even billions of years.
Since this in its present form is a only a hypothesis originating from within
the science community with some supporters, plenty of detractors, and a great
deal more careful fence straddlers as is the case with so many such hypothesis
and theories that are subject to interpretation, it is a guarantee of controversy
and argument. That means that passions can run high and reputations can hang
in the balance on such issues as sides align. As you know, in the field of
science and academics, reputations are everything.
If that isn't enough to guarantee conflict, it appears that so far in the
last 8 years or so, no DNA has been found to conclusively exist in the red
rain organism and scientist have been looking for it. Now all life that the
science community can even conceive of has DNA with no exceptions and anything
else is just impossible. Further, even the primary proponents of the Panspermia
hypothesis presume the presence of DNA in those "seeds" of life.
So if this red rain organism evidence can be confirmed to NOT
have DNA, that will go against so much that is accepted as foundation fact
in science.
That puts Dr's. Louis and Kumar out of a very long lonely limb bucking the
science consensus and reputation tide with Dr. Louis the more publicly visible
of the two. Dr. Louis is now head of the Department of Physics at Cochin University
of Science and Technology located in Kochi, Kerala in India. Louis and Kumar
have shared the red rain samples openly with prominent scientists around the
world for testing. It remains to be seen if DNA will or will not be confirmed
by all this testing and also if it will be reported honestly.
I mention honesty because the incentive to not find DNA is poor and the incentive
to find it high. Why? Because it puts the scientist willing to go public with
such findings in the adversarial cross hairs of the bulk of their peers. For
example, already some scientists with no consensus to back them up and protect
them are characterizing Louis and Kumar's claims as "wild" even
though the claims are just driven by the to date
evidence, even though those making such statements are themselves so far unable
to produce findings of DNA in the samples, and Louis and Kumar acknowledge
that more confirmation investigation needs to be done. So some serious foot
dragging can no doubt be expected on this issue of DNA or no DNA.
However, this reporting is not really about this science community controversy.
I merely try to introduce it here as background for better insight. Other
links I'll provide in the "documention" section below will provide
much more detail on this background and I will not bore you with more of that
here. At this point, in my opinion, the concept that needs to be grasped by
us right now is that this red rain organism is clearly an extremophile by
Earth standards just based on its multi-color autoflouresence and it ability
to not only survive but grow more active and proliferate in temperature and
pressure extremes that would quickly kill off any other life known to us.
Note that these factors are not really part of the controversy, just tainted
by association.
One must ask oneself how this life form came by an adaptation to such temperature
(and pressure) extremes spanning a plus to minus range
of at least 500º C or 900º F. An organism does not accidentally
develop such a capability. There must first be a need for it at some initial
point in its existence. Beside the logical extraterrestrial explanation espoused
by Dr's. Louis and Kumar, could this extremophile be something that exists
right now in the Earth's subterranean magma calling that home? Perhaps it
was ejected into the Earth's atmosphere at some point in the past by volcanic
action where it continues to survive today in clusters occasionally falling
out to the ground in the rain and especially when shocked by a comet's passage
and disintegration?
Like the Tardigrade or Water Bear extremophile in my 2004 Report
#078, this red rain organism could likely easily survive and even
flourish on other planets that we would myopicly consider too hostile for
life. That would obviously include Mars even at its most hostile as officially
depicted. Remember the old saying, life always finds a way and here is an
excellent example of that potential!
The red rain came from our Earth's atmosphere. Was it seed sprinkled out by
a extraterrestrial comet as suggested by Dr's. Louis and Kumar or was it already
surviving there? The fact that red rain has been experienced since 2001 in
subsequent years tends to suggest that this organism may still be present
in the atmosphere. The fact is that we do not know that much about the Earth's
upper atmosphere with respect to what may be alive there. Our science community
thinks it does but then in their naivety they never adequately contemplate
the impact of secrecy interests manipulating scientific data.
Also, science is always characterized as but also rationalized as a building
block process. If there is a social consensus that a thing is true, then it
becomes a perceived accepted fact and building block in the science communities
whether it it actually true or not. This results in accepted science often
being a collection of both fact and fiction. The longer it is accepted and/or
goes unchallenged, the more it is thought to be unassailable when it isn't
really. This results in periodic paradigm shifts occurring and shocked scientists
when the fiction part doesn't hold up in the long haul or under new and real
challenges.
So this too is the process of science and the scientific method. Often with
the science communities there are only certain limited things that they are
willing to consider and they often close their minds off to the rest. Human
arrogance and blindness in this way is ever present in human behavior. For
example, the science community paradigm is that life as we know it cannot
exist in Earth's upper atmosphere or in space. So this becomes the public's
view as the science consensus paradigm fact and fiction is dutifully carried
into public consciousness.
On the other hand, just a few decades ago life in our Earth's oceans unsupported
by sunlight and subject to tremendous pressures was thought to be impossible.
Now we know that entire living communities able to utilize geothermal vent
heat and mineral output on the floor of the ocean deeps where sunlight is
absent and in spite of the pressure is a reality. Just as it was with the
ocean deeps, there is just so much that we do not yet know or understand about
our own upper atmosphere levels and further out in space. Take a look at the
video at the link below filmed by NASA from the Space Shuttle Orbiter during
its STS-80 mission.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0jpUPLqLhA
In this NASA video clip you will see footage filmed from the shuttle looking
down into the Earth's upper atmosphere as it is experiencing an electrical
storm with flashes of light generated by the upper level lightening. This
clip is displayed concentrating on the presence of UFOs as crafts and speculation
about them. However, it also introduces for consideration the concept of life
unknown to us being attracted to the atmospheric electrical disturbances as
a source of power. That is the point I want to convey here. Now take a look
at the next video at the link below from the NASA STS-75 mission.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As-wYmFYb31&feature=related
What are all those things attracted to the broken tether and swarming around
it in this NASA clip? Remember that the tether is not just a tie line like
we might think of a rope. This tether is 12 miles long wide flat band and
a power conduit connecting the satellite power generator to the shuttle. If
you will listen closely to the video voice, you'll hear that the experiment
was already deployed and in operation producing power when the separation
occurred. In fact, the tether/conduit broke not from tension strain but from
a unexpected spike overload of power blowing apart the tether connection at
the shuttle.
Of critical importance is the fact that the power generator satellite is still
attached to the now broken tether drifting away from the shuttle but continuing
to do its power generating thing. So the whole broken loose equipment is still
charging with power but now with no connection to the shuttle.
The official voice transmission tells us that the objects swarming are "debris"
and the implication of course is that this "debris" is associated
with the shuttle and experiment. However, if that was true, then this would
be just be human scale small debris drifting along with the experiment and/or
shuttle. Remember, the only source of debris in such numbers would be the
shuttle and/or the experiment equipment. About now is a good time to give
you some measurements as appear below.
SPACE SHUTTLE ORBITER
Length .......... 122 ft. / 37.24 m
Width ............ 28.5 ft. / 8.69 m
Bay size ........ 15 ft. / 4.6m by 60 ft. / 18.3m
BROKEN TETHER
Length .......... 12 miles
Distance ........ 81 or 90 miles (from the shuttle)
The Space Shuttle Orbiter measurements are the maximum scale sizes of the
Earth human engineered equipment that would be generating any debris pieces
floating around in space. Logically any "debris" would have to be
smaller than these maximum measurements. In fact, obviously, a great deal
smaller. Note that after the initial springing action visible in the video
produced by the tether breaking process, the tether is now visually straight
as an arrow floating peacefully in space. In other words, the tether and satellite
attached has come to rest. So why hasn't the "debris" in movement
all around the tether also come to rest?
Not only that but listen close to the official voice transmission as it tells
us that the broken tether we're looking at is some 12 miles long and that
it is either 81 or 90 miles distant from the shuttle. To be seeing the entire
tether in the camera view, that would appear to be consistent with such a
stated distance. I'll leave it to you math experts out there to confirm or
deny NASA shuttle crew statements in this regard.
However, it quickly becomes apparent via just simple common sense that the
12 mile long tether to be seen fully from the Shuttle must be a considerable
distance away. That 81 or 90 miles distance means that the swarming objects
are in fact very large and far far too large to be explained away as any human
scale "debris" associated with the the shuttle or experiment. What?
You argue that the objects are just close to the Shuttle and camera and between
it and the tether.
We should be thankful that the tether is cooperating with us by being arrow
straight and serves as a known scale ruler by which
some of the larger disc shaped objects you see flying around there can be
measured. Now repeatedly look at the video and note that a number of
the discs with the dark round area or hole in the center and one or two notches
at their perimeter edge pass BEHIND the tether
rather than in front of it. Again I'll leave the math to the experts but once
again simple common sense can suffice reasonably well here.
Just in a very rough visual calculation, the width of a disc passing behind
the tether may conservatively match at least 5% of the length of the tether.
That means that, far from being "debris," the discs are huge and
many times larger that the entire Space Shuttle Orbiter.
For example, 5% of the 12-mile tether length would .60th of a mile. This suggests
that some of these objects may be at least hundreds of yards or more across.
Remember, this can be confirmed by straight forward mathematics and is fact
not to be confused with subjective conjecture, speculation or theory.
One thing is for sure, once one begins to examine this issue closer, it sure
doesn't sound much like human scale "debris" from the shuttle or
experiment any longer does it. Not only that, how can anyone logically
think that all those uniformly the same looking discs shapes in movement could
qualify as "debris." When the size and shape factors are examined
closer even without getting into how these objects 81 to 90 miles away from
the shuttle and its influence are moving, it is hard to imagine a statement
getting any more weak and lame.
What if some or all of these swarming objects represent life of some kind?
What if our upper atmospheric layers are full of life that normally draws
energy from natural upper atmospheric electrical (lightening) disturbances?
What if the leaking energy excited space around the tether and satellite draws
them like a magnet? Are some of these swarming objects attracted to and trying
to take advantage of our failed experiment as do the strange life around our
deep ocean vents? Are they living entities or craft or both? Are they eating
or refueling or is there a difference for them?
If this red rain organism is eventually determined to have no DNA, then it
will be a science paradigm buster and all bets will then be off as to what
is possible even in space itself must less in our own upper atmosphere or
on places like Mars. Now if we could just get some objective honesty and openness
going as to what is in our upper atmosphere and space surrounding Earth must
less in more distant places like the Moon and Mars?
If it ever happens, I suspect we'll then more directly experience the famous
saying that "Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is
stranger than we can imagine." That quote was by Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington
an English Astrophysicist who helped develop and bring knowledge of Einstein's
theory of general relativity to the English speaking world.
DOCUMENTATION
http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1526&category=Science:
This link will take you to a good detailed recent 2009 updated report on the
red rain organism by Linda Moulton Howe.
http://education.vsnl.com/godfrey:
This link takes you to Dr. Godfrey Louis's website where there will be information
on red rain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_rain_in_Kerala:
The link takes you to an older Wikipedia piece on the Red Rain in Kerala.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia:
This link takes you to a Wikipedia discussion relating the Panspermia
Hypothesis.
, Investigator
www.marsanomalyresearch.com©
