• Question: Have you found any extra-terrestrial life when looking at meteorites?

    Asked by tend532mobs to pratibhagautam, niamhtopping, joshuahollowood, Diane on 9 Oct 2025.
    • Photo: Joshua Hollowood

      Joshua Hollowood answered on 9 Oct 2025:

      Unfortunately not 🙁

      However, scientists I know worked on the Winchombe meteorite, which landed in the UK in 2021.

      In this meteorite, scientists found water and tiny building blocks of life, which shows that meteorites might have helped start life on Earth.

    • Photo: Niamh Topping

      Niamh Topping answered on 20 Oct 2025:

      No, however some scientists back in 1996 claimed they found evidence of fossilised bacteria in a meteorite from Mars (ALH 84001), which was really controversial at the time! Ultimately they were proven incorrect. But like Joshua has said, we do find evidence of water in some meteorites (effectively trapped inside minerals) and other elements which are essential for life

    • Photo: Pratibha Gautam

      Pratibha Gautam answered on 26 Feb 2026:

      Not yet, we hope so to find some soon!!! Fingers crossed 🤞. But we do find certain chemicals inside these meteorites that maybe elements of life like amino acids and water, hidden deep inside these rocks. It’s like finding the ingredients for life floating in space, even if we haven’t found the actual life yet!

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