We already know microbes can go into a dormant or "spore" state and exist almost indefinitely in conditions like those found in deep space. And we already know life has the ability to evolve into and thrive in extremely hostile environments. In fact, life may very well have arisen in places like boiling anaerobic acidic brines, which today are only populated by a few hardy species of highly specialized microbes.

But it is highly unlikely life could arise spontaneously in all those hostile environments. If there is life on the moon, Mars, or other dangerous deep space habitats, it either arose there when conditions were more moderate and gradually evolved to survive there as they subsequently deteriorated, or it came from somewhere else and went into a dormant state in the hope conditions would ultimately improve.

All the circumstantial evidence we have so far suggests life is tenacious and hardy, can arise almost anywhere and given time, can adapt to almost anything. But it does have its limitations, and it is not a magic, vitalistic Force, imbued with some spooky imperative to spread throughout the cosmos. Its just complex chemistry, capable of modification and adaptation. Nothimg more.

I'm convinced there is a lot of life in the universe, it is extrememly common, but any life we are likely to find in space may only be of great interest to a biochemist, and would probably quickly bore anyone who wasn't one. Advanced life, multicellular organisms, complex ecosysterms, sentient beings, may be extremely rare in the cosmos. People anything like us are probably extremely rare. We may even be the only ones.

Life arose on earth almost as soon as it cooled off, about 3.5 to 4 billion years ago. But the first (multicellular) macro-organisms didn't arise until about .5 billion years ago. Astronomically, it is extremely unlikely for a planetary surface to remain stable and life-friendly for the several billion years it seems to require to evolve life forms complex enough to develop intelligence.

Of course, we don't really know. We may never know. But that's the best guess we can make now consistent with what we do know.