Which are the 5 best places to find life in our solar system?
The possibility of discovering life beyond Earth has never been greater. We are officially
now living in the James Webb era. Even Though James Webb might look for life in atmospheres of
exoplanets, life might actually occur much closer to our home. And no it is not going to be little
green men flying through space and invading our planet but more likely microbes or bacterial life.
You might be wondering where we might find such life in our own solar system? Don’t worry,
we’ve got you covered. In this video, we are going to talk about 5 best places in our solar system
where we might find extraterrestrial life. The first question that might come to your
mind would be, Where are we going to find such microbial life in our solar system?
It was originally assumed that the solar system was a lifeless wasteland apart from Earth.
Mars's rocky neighbors were either too dry and frigid, or too hot and hellish, like Venus. The
other planets were gas giants, and life on them or their satellite moons was almost unthinkable.
Earth appeared to be a wonder within a miracle.
But life isn’t that simple. We now know that life on Earth is able to thrive in even the harshest,
most brutal environments, in super cold and super dry conditions, depths of unimaginable pressures,
and without the need to use sunlight as a source of energy.
At the same time, our cursory understanding of these obscure worlds has expanded tremendously.
Our rocky neighbors of Venus and Mars may have once been temperate and Earth-like,
and some of the life might have lingered on after these planets’ climates took a turn for the worse.
Several of the icy moons that hang around Jupiter and Saturn might have underground
oceans that could sustain life. A couple may even have atmospheres. And still other places that seem
to be too exotic for life continue to surprise us. As we explore our solar system further,
it seems increasingly likely that we'll find evidence that we're not alone. What
are these places which have a possibility to host life? Let’s look at them one by one.
Number 5-) Venus Venus's surface temperatures are hot
enough to melt lead, and its surface pressures are more than 80 times higher than on Earth. Still,
Venus might host life!. The possibility of life on Venus was first raised last year when researchers
detected phosphine gas in its thick atmosphere. On Earth, phosphine is primarily produced by
life in oxygen-poor ecosystems. This raises the possibility that there might be life on Venus
responsible for producing it. The most likely scenario would be microbial life that’s hanging
within the clouds—airborne life, basically. However, this is still just a theory, and
further research is needed to confirm it. If there is indeed life on Venus, it would be an incredible
discovery that could rewrite our understanding of how life can develop in different environments.
However, the detection of phosphine has since come under scrutiny, and not all scientists believe
that it is evidence of life. Despite this debate, the idea of life on Venus has renewed interest in
the planet. Venus is often thought of as a hellish world, with harsh conditions that would make it
uninhabitable for any known life form. However, some scientists believe that Venus may have
once been habitable, and might still be. The new DAVINCI+ and VERITAS missions that
NASA will launch late this decade will help us to answer this question more concretely.
These missions won't find life directly, but they will provide valuable data about the conditions on
Venus and whether or not it could support life. 4-) Enceladus
Enceladus, Saturn's sixth largest moon, is one of the most intriguing places in our solar system.
Covered in clean ice, it is one of the most reflective bodies in the solar system.
Its surface is ice cold, but there is significant activity going on beneath the surface. The moon
ejects plumes that contain salt water, ammonia, and organic molecules like methane and propane.
Enceladus is thought to have a global salty ocean. And NASA has found evidence of hydrothermal
activity deep underground, which could provide a source of heat that is necessary for life to
evolve and thrive. Given the presence of all of these potential ingredients for life, Enceladus
ought to be further up on our list of places to explore in our search for extraterrestrial
life. However, there are no current plans for a mission to study this fascinating moon in detail.
Many mission ideas, including several under NASA, have been considered over the previous several
years. All are focused toward an astrobiological research to hunt for clues that Enceladus may
support life. While burrowing deep into the ocean would be the most certain approach to verify
whether the moon is home to life, we may also get fortunate and identify biosignatures emitted
by the moon's cryovolcanoes (volcanos that erupt vapourized materials like water or ammonia rather
than molten rock). However, not for a long time. 3-) Titan
Scientists have long been intrigued by the possibility of life on Titan,
Saturn's largest moon. Titan boasts a robust atmosphere for a rocky world,
and is teeming with different bodies of liquid: lakes, rivers, and seas. But these bodies of
liquid are not made of water: they're composed of methane and other hydrocarbons. This makes Titan
extremely rich in organic materials - perfect for developing life as we know it. Additionally,
Titan may also have a subsurface ocean of water, though this has yet to be verified.
The Dragonfly mission, set to launch in 2027, will help scientists understand exactly how developed
Titan's prebiotic chemistry is. The Dragonfly mission will send a drone helicopter to explore
Titan's atmosphere directly, and will give us valuable insights into the potential for life
on this intriguing world. After the atmospheric entry probe Huygens landed on Titan in 2005,
scientists were surprised to find a complex world with dim sunlight,
a surface of icy grains and rocks, and evidence of possible subsurface liquid water.
These conditions make Titan a strong candidate for habitability, even though it is much colder than
Earth. Some studies have proposed that amino acids and nucleotides, the building blocks of RNA and
DNA, can be formed without liquid water by using the chemicals available in Titan's atmosphere.
These findings suggest that there is a possibility of life on Titan, even though the conditions on
the surface are harsh. Unfortunately, Titan's chemistry and habitat still lack many of the
prerequisites for terrestrial life, thus if life exists on Titan, it would have to be
unlike any creature found on Earth. 2-) Mars
The search for life on Mars has been a high priority for planetary scientists since the 1950s.
The Curiosity rover, which is currently exploring Mars, has found strong evidence that the planet
was habitable in the past. It also had a robust atmosphere back then. The presence of liquid water
is essential for life as we know it, and Mars had lakes and rivers of water on its surface
billions of years ago. Although the Martian atmosphere is now too thin to support life,
it is possible that life could still exist underground. Radar observations have shown that
there are likely to be reservoirs of liquid water a few kilometers below the surface, and this could
provide an environment where life could thrive. The samples that the Perseverance rover will
bring back to Earth will give us a better idea of whether there is current life on Mars, and if so,
what it might look like. So what does that have to do with finding current life? Well, if there
are signs of ancient life, it’s possible life on Mars still exists. Probably not on the surface,
but maybe underground. There have already been a few big studies that have used radar observations
to show that reservoirs of liquid water probably exist a couple kilometers below the surface.
Hence, further research needs to be directed towards verifying the findings of these studies
in order to ascertain the presence or absence of current Martian life forms. We've discovered
bacteria on Earth that can survive in comparable environments, so it's completely feasible that
something is also alive in those areas of Mars. It will be quite tough to get down there, but if we
have cause to suspect that anything is hiding in these reservoirs, it will be all hands on deck to
find out how to go there and see for ourselves. 1-) Europa
Europa, the smallest of Jupiter's Galilean moons and somewhat smaller than Earth's moon,
may be missed in favor of the more spectacular moons on this list. This inconspicuous moon,
however, has the smoothest solid surface of any known object in the whole Solar System,
hinting at the possibility of a massive, underground ocean of liquid water.
Europa is covered by a thick shell of ice, which hides a huge subsurface ocean. This ocean is
heated by tidal forces, and the resulting internal circulation is thought to help replenish the icy
surface on a regular basis. This means that the ocean floor is interacting with the surface—which
means that if we want to determine whether life exists in those subsurface oceans,
we may not necessarily need to go all the way down there. Scientists have found deposits of clay-like
minerals associated with organic materials on Europa. And it's suspected that radiation hitting
the icy surface could result in oxygen that might find its way into the subsurface oceans
and be used by emerging life. All the ingredients for life are potentially here. So while we still
don't know for sure if life exists on Europa, the possibility is certainly tantalizing.
Europa is one of the most intriguing moons in our solar system. Its surface is covered in ice,
but it is believed to have a liquid water ocean underneath. This, combined with the
fact that it is tidally locked (meaning one side always faces its planet, Jupiter),
makes it an excellent candidate for hosting life. And we are lucky enough, because we are set to
study Europa in great detail in the coming years. The JUICE mission will make two flybys of Europa
during its time in the Jovian system. But the marquee mission on the books is Europa Clipper,
a spacecraft that would conduct low-altitude flights that would attempt to study and
characterize the surface, and investigate the subsurface environment as best it can.
Clipper launches in 2024, and we can't wait to see what it discovers about this fascinating moon.
Some regions in the Solar System provide a surprising array of settings
in which astrobiologists might seek the finding of extraterrestrial life, ranging from a smoggy
planet of chemical lakes to smooth, frozen exteriors that mask immense subsurface seas.
Not only will such an amazing feat change humanity's vision of the rest of the galaxy, but
it may also provide answers concerning the origins of life on Earth: where it began and how it first
appeared over 3.8 billion years ago. So as we are entering a new phase in space exploration,
there is a high chance that we might find life in atleast one of these places. So which
place according to you has the highest chance of hosting life? . Let me know in the comments below
and be sure to watch our other videos about alien life through youtube endscreens and playlists!