The theory is based on calculations showing a high likelihood of rock fragments from planets in other star systems landing on Earth long ago.
Some of them could have carried embedded micro-organisms, according to experts writing in the journal Astrobiology.
Extraterrestrial microbes might have brought life to Earth after traveling through space for millions of years, say scientists.
The theory is based on calculations showing a high likelihood of rock fragments from planets in other star systems landing on Earth long ago.
Some of them could have carried embedded micro-organisms, according to experts writing in the journal Astrobiology.
The Sun’s birth cluster slowly broke apart when the Solar System was 135 million to 535 million years old.
Earth possessed surface water from when the Solar System was just 288 million years of age, making it likely that the planet was ready to receive alien microbes.
Co-author Dr Amaya Moro-Martin, an astronomer from the Centro de Astrobiologia in Spain, said: 'Our study stops when the solid matter is trapped by the second planetary system, but for lithopanspermia to be completed it actually needs to land on a terrestrial planet where life could flourish.
'The study of the probability of landing on a terrestrial planet is work that we now know is worth doing because large quantities of solid material originating from the first planetary system may be trapped by the second planetary system, waiting to land on a terrestrial planet.
'Our study does not prove lithopanspermia actually took place, but it indicates that it is an open possibility.'
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