Comet lander Philae may be sitting on top of alien microbial life and is incapable of doing anything about it, according to leading astronomers. The comet’s characteristics such as a black crust and icy lakes suggest life could lie beneath the surface.

The comet, named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, has an organic-rich black crust, which could be due to living organisms making their way beneath its icy surface, astronauts said after studying the findings of the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft and Philae lander. 

Director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology professor Chandra Wickramasinghe and his colleague Dr Max Wallis from the University of Cardiff have said that comet 67P and others like it could be homes to living microbes - something close to the “extremophiles” that seen in the inhospitable parts of the Earth.

According to the two, it is comets like 67P that could be responsible for bringing life to Earth and potentially other planets.

Both astronomers have completed computer simulations, which showed that microbes could live in watery regions of the comet. And organisms with anti-freeze salts could survive at temperatures as low 

RT