Is there life in space? Fielding scepticism, controversy and breaking a long silence, astrophysicist Jayant Narlikar says a ‘‘confident’’ yes. In an e-mail interview with Reshma Patil, the director of the Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) at Pune said astrophysicists from India and the UK now have exciting evidence of extra-terrestrial microbial life—fungus, cocci and bacillus rods—indications from ongoing lab tests of samples collected at 41 km altitudes, over one year after ISRO and IUCAA jointly sent up balloon-borne cryogenic samplers from Hyderabad, in search of extra-terrestrial life.

In a paper submitted this April to Astrophysics and Space Science, Narlikar and N C Wickramasinghe report that ‘‘microbiological analysis shows existence of viable cells at 41 km falling to Earth at the rate of a few tonnes per day over the entire globe. Some of these cells have been cultured in the laboratory and found to include microorganisms that are not too different from related species on Earth. This is in fact what the Hoyle Wickramasinghe theory predicts. The weight of evidence goes against the more conservative explanation that organisms are being lofted to the high atmosphere from the ground.’’

Do Indian astrophysicists now have a first definitive answer to the question of life in space?

We are confident that we have detected micro-organisms at the heights of 41 km. Our team includes scientists from India as well as the United Kingdom.

What were your expectations when the experiments were first conceived? What was the scientific basis on which the search for samples of extraterrestrial microbial life was first started by Indian scientists?

We set out to test a consequence of the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe hypothesis that comets contain micro-organisms in frozen form. If and when their tails brush the Earth’s atmosphere, these may be passed on to the latter. We chose a period (January 2001) a few weeks later than the meteor shower which is known to be made of cometary debris.

What is the immediate and long-term significance of these findings?

This could have far reaching significance in terms of life on Earth, showing that life here is not a closed system but is in interaction with the outer space.

Sceptics raise the question of micro-organisms from earth contaminating samples collected. How is this possibility accounted for during experiments and verification?

Every precaution was taken against contamination, both in the biology laboratories as well as while preparing and operating the pay-load. The presence of micro-organisms at 41 km is very hard to explain on the basis of these coming from the Earth.

We know of no mechanism that could make this possible. Still, if sceptics can suggest some way this could have happened we can go back and check it against the experimental protocol followed.

One year after this ISRO project, have we left the Americans far behind in similar experiments and research by NASA?

Given their capabilities, the Americans could have done this experiment earlier and even better. However, they did not do so probably because of the prevailing conviction that life is confined to Earth.

Will ISRO continue to fund the project?

We would like to make an application to ISRO to conduct a follow-up experiment.

How has the international science community received the news?

Some sceptics do ask if we can rule out contamination, but they have not yet suggested how, if at all, contamination could have crept into our analysis.

The response has been generally positive in terms of scientific interest displayed whenever the results were presented at conferences

attended by astronomers, space scientists and biologists.

At present, our collaborators outside India come from the Cardiff and Sheffield universities.

Are any more balloon experiments being planned and where? Is the IUCAA team working on newer methods?