"What type of scientific proof is there that Earth is the only location in the universe that life has ever existed on?"
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Question
Has a space craft or satellite ever been struck by a meteorite, or are you no more likely to be struck by a meteorite in space, than you are on Earth?
No spacecraft has been known to be struck by a meteorite, if by this you mean small debris in heliocentric orbit. However, several interplanetary spacecraft have suffered from unexplained failures, so it is possible that meteoritic impacts ware implicated. Several Earth orbiting spacecraft, including the Shuttle and the Space Station, have been struck by small fragments of space debris in Earth orbit, where there is lots of human-produced junk (and significantly more as a result of the recent Chinese anti-satellite demonstration). Also, spacecraft flying close to active comets (e.g., Giottto at Halley and Stardust at Wild-2) have been hit by small "rocks" and ice particles streaming away from the comet. Generally, it is much, much more likely to be hit by meteoritic debris in space, since the Earth's atmosphere protects us from practically any small rocks that we collide with. David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist
May 2, 2007
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