Back in September a group of astrobiologists led by Professor Milton Wainwright made major headlines when they announced that they had found biological particles high up in the stratosphere, the outermost region of our planet's atmosphere.
The researchers went on to speculate that these "dragon particles" could represent the first direct evidence that extraterrestrial life forms exist in other parts of the universe.
Now the team has returned to the limelight to reveal new details about their ongoing study in to what they are now calling "ghost particles" due to their wispy appearance under a microscope.
Wainwright and his colleagues suggest that these microscopic biological structures could be tiny living 'balloons' that alien microbes can inflate and use to float around in a planet's atmosphere.
"The particle is definitely biological," the team wrote. "We can speculate that in its space environment this ‘ghost particle’ is a living balloon which an alien microscopic organism might inflate with lighter than air gasses allowing it to float in the air or the seas of an unknown space environment."
This latest development follows on from the recent discovery by Russian astronauts of diatomic plankton on the surface of the International Space Station, an indication that organisms from the surface of our planet can contaminate spacecraft and be carried in to orbit.
Despite this however Wainwright's team is adamant that the 'ghost particle' is not of this Earth.
"They appear on the sampling stubs in an absolutely pristine condition with no contamination like pollen, grass or pollution particles," the researchers wrote.
"Unless a means of lifting them from Earth exists which selectively sieves them out from other Earth-derived debris then they must be incoming from space."
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