Panspermia

Definition

Panspermia is the hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by space dust, meteoroids, asteroids, comets, planetoids and also by spacecraft carrying unintended contamination by microorganisms.

Related terms

Extraterrestrial Life: Life that originates outside of Earth.

Astrobiology: The study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe.

Meteorites:

A solid piece of debris from an object such as a comet, asteroid or meteoroid that originates in outer space and survives its passage through Earth's atmosphere to reach the surface.