An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

Transfer of microbes and biochemical compounds from a planet to another due to meteoric impacts. Debris being knocked off a planet like Mars can reach escape velocity and enter the atmosphere of another planet with passenger micro-organisms intact.

→ ballistic; → panspermia.

The hypothesis that life exists and is distributed throughout the Universe in the form of "seeds" that develop in the right environment. The oldest record of this idea may be traced back to the ancient Greek philospher Anaxagoras, who lived in the fifth century B.C.

N.L., from Gk. panspermia "mixture of all seeds," from → pan- + -sperm, a combining form of sperma "seed" + -ia a noun suffix.

Pân-dâne-vari, sarâsar-dâne-vari, from pân-, sarâsar-, → pan-, + dâné "seed, grain" (Mid.Pers. dân, dânag "seed, corn," Av. dânô- in dânô.karš- "carrying grains; an ant," Skt. dhânâ- "corn, grain," Tokharian B tâno "grain," cf. Lith. duona "corn, bread") + -var suffix of possession, variant -ur (Mid.Pers. -uwar, -war; from O.Pers. -bara, from bar- "to bear, carry") + -i noun suffix.