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ASTROBIOLOGY: An Introduction

How much do we know about life on Earth?

As we have yet to uncover how life began in the first place… Many say all life forms on earth a work of the Supreme Being.

Some great minds suggest that organic molecules may have been created elsewhere in the universe and were brought to planet Earth by meteors.

Contrary to that, several other researchers when simulated the impact of meteorites in the primeval ocean, argued that the organic molecules could have been synthesized from the inorganic molecules already present on the planet when the meteorites crashed into the ocean.

Subsequent to understanding the existence of the universe, we are now struggling to elucidate how long it took the first generation of stars to seed our universe with the heavy elements we see on earth today.

But we do know that life is a process, driven by chemical reactions or metabolism. And that “life-as-we-know-it” needs:

• Liquid water (water needs warmth, hence heat is necessary)
• Organic molecules (Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Sulphur, Phosphorus …)
• Energy source – sunlight provide heat and source of light
• Suitable environment – blanketed from the harmful cosmic rays

From there we will know when exactly in the history of the Universe was there a sufficient supply of profound elements to allow the formation of pre-biotic molecules that might have combined, and formed life.

Today, science is trying to explain whether life, be it similar to our own or not, exist elsewhere in our solar system.

Do the other planets have conditions that would support life and if yes, what conditions favor the formation such life forms?

But really, could life exist in an environment that limits access to the basic requirements ‘life-as-we-know-it' needs, for example in terrestrial bodies other than Earth?

Why science is convinced that ‘life’ could exist on the other places in the solar system which has extreme conditions?

This is because Earth, during its infant years, was once a wasteland with extreme conditions. Our Earth has since journeyed through stages until the planet became a home to a myriad of life forms. However, though rare, traces of the early earth condition still exist in many places.

And it was a heaven to organisms that had evolved to live in environments WE consider extreme.

Welcome to the fascinating world of Astrobiology.

By: Gomathy Ramasamy

Source: NASA