Question: Is there bacteria in space?

Ciarán O'Brien answered on 20 Nov 2014:

Any bacteria scientists have found in space are ones that hitched a ride up there on one of our spacecraft. Even after all the serilisation and precautions taken by scientists, the little beggars still manage to sneak through. 🙂

I doubt there are any bacteria in deep space. There’s nothing for them to eat, and it’s very cold unless you’re near a star, which emits deadly radiation unless you have an atmosphere to shield you from the worst of it.

We haven’t found any on other planets yet, but we haven’t been able to look very hard so far. I would be surprised if we didn’t end up finding some bacteria on Mars. It used to be a lot warmer and the water used to be more accessible, perfect conditions for starting life. I’ll bet there are some living in the soil, probably deeper than the probes we’ve sent there can reach so they can keep at a stable temperature and use the water locked away in the soil.

When a manned mission to Mars finally happens, we’ll find out for sure. But that’s at least 15 years away. Anyone your age would probably be old enough to head to Mars and search for life by that time. 🙂