The Search For Life in Our Galaxy
Many people have been asking the same question for years. Are we alone in our universe? Scientists and Astronomers have debated the possibility of finding life and what it takes for a planet to support life. Recently much of the focus on this topic has been turned to Mars and if Mars has what it takes to support life on Mars. I have seen many documentaries and articles on the ability for Mars and planets on our Solar System and Universe. I would like to learn exactly what characteristics a planet needs to support life? Will we ever find one? And Can Mars support life? Have we found any planets we think that could support life? These are the questions I hope to answer. Using this, I formed my research
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An overwhelming 75 percent of people agree that we will eventually find life and also a majority agreed that Mars has or could support life. Some of the responses also showed that people had no idea about this topic. When I asked them about how they would feel if we found life, a majority said they would be excited. Next, I did a google search to find out what a planet actually need to support life. I came upon a website from the University of Utah explaining what conditions are able to support life. This provided a list which answered a very important question which I needed in order to understand what planets can or cannot support life. Then I was curious if Mars contained all these characteristics, so I searched on Google if Mars could support life. I found article by space.com. This provided interesting information on why Mars could or could not support life. Even though Mars, may not be able to support terrestrial life, It is promising for smaller life forms and bacterias. The Humidity on Mars could be enough to support these organisms. I had heard from my brother that an group was attempting to send people to Mars to colonize it. I decided to look into this more and I found a mission by an organization called Mars One. Their mission is to attempt to colonize Mars in around 2020. I began to wonder if we have found any other planets like Mars that could possibly support life. I found another article by Space.com and also an article by Nasa which says we have found many possible planets like earth which could support life. The Kepler spacecraft continues to find new exoplanets which could contain life but we have no way of knowing for sure because they are light years away. Kepler -452b is the most hopeful of the group of exoplanets found and I wanted to know exactly how long it would take to get there. I did some searching on the internet and found an article by Express
The research questions being proposed in this paper include but are not limited the following
Finding life in our solar system could potentially answer the questions humanity has been asking for thousands of years. Sarah Seager, a professor at MIT, mentioned some of these thought provoking questions, “why are we here? Why does our universe exist? How did Earth form and evolve? How and why did life originate and populate our planet?” Answers to these questions could give humanity a deeper understanding of who we are and what our place in the universe is. Steven Dick believes that humanity has “… deep psychological yearnings for companionship, superior wisdom, or ‘an ineradicable desire to see the skies filled with life’.” Those opposed may argue that a biological universe will have little effect on humanity’s understanding of our place in the universe because a biological universe simply does not exist. One may argue that life is exceedingly complex and the odds of conditions being just right for the production and the sustainment of life are slim. Our civilization may have managed to beat the odds, but many its unlikely to for this to occur elsewhere in our solar system. The proof to back this argument is the N =1 equation. The only solid evidence we have proves that only one planet has beaten these insurmountable odds and produced life. While this argument makes logical sense, relying solely on evidence we have at the moment, takes our focus away from the
Are human beings alone in the Milky Way Galaxy? This constitutes one of astronomy’s biggest inquiries of all time. The Kepler Mission was launched in March 2009 to analyze a sector of the Milky Way galaxy in order to ascertain dozens of Earth-size planets within the habitable zone (Jerry 1). By applying the transit method, NASA scientists would conclude the amount of stars containing habitable planets which has revitalized the question of extraterrestrial life. Through the state of the art spacecraft and specially designed methods, NASA has met many of the fundamental objectives and has discovered hundreds of exoplanets. Unquestionably, these discoveries have made Kepler to become one of the most notable NASA missions to date.
I will be using three focus questions to help assist and guide the study and structure this investigation. These
The existence of life – Aliens, beyond our planet has been a controversial topic for several centuries, and is a debatable issue even today in the 21st century. What is our topic you may ask? Aliens, Do, Exist. According to theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking, it would be improbable for life not to exist somewhere other than Earth. This is a bold claim, but there is evidence to support this statement. The evidence we seek is in the many Alien occurrences we have experienced throughout human history.
It is without a doubt that the most fascinating thing about space is the possibility of life elsewhere beside Earth. It is estimated that the Milky Way Galaxy itself contains about 300 billion stars. Each star contains planets and some planets might even have moons. With these findings, the question is no longer whether life exists elsewhere. The probability that Earth is the only place where life exists in the universe is far too slim. NASA has identified many planets that have similar conditions to Earth but most of these planets are hundreds of light years away so traveling there to find out if there’s any living organism is not easy. Luckily, scientific evidences have pointed out that one of the moons of Jupiter, Europa, could be one of the places where life can exist. If the theories proposed by astronomers about Europa are true, life on Europa might not even be entirely different than life near the bottom of Earth’s oceans.
Mars is our next best hope in life on another planet. Because of science mankind can grow and harvest plants in the modified mars soil, make a thick warm atmosphere, and drink no frozen mars water. Mankind can grow and flourish more as a species with this idea of colonizing mars. With more scientific advancements we can colonize mars and we will colonize mars.
Have you ever looked up in the sky and wondered if there is life elsewhere in the universe? Have you ever looked at a photograph of Mars and wondered if there really was ever life on it? People have a wide variety of opinions regarding these questions and with good reason. As far back as the broadcast of H. G. Well's novel, "The War of the Worlds", the world has been fascinated with the possibilities of what Mars may hold. Over time, the majority of people have come to realize that there is no way that life can currently be on Mars. Those who are uncertain think there may be microscopic bacteria underground.
Are we alone in this universe? Is there anything out there besides us? Probably if you look at the facts and the evidence about our universe. According to NASA, based on data from the Kepler spacecraft there are 60 billion planets that could support life just in our Milky Way galaxy. Spacecraft's dedicated to finding life on other planets such as the Kepler Spacecraft and scientist astronomers at NASA are just some of the things used to gather so much evidence for life existing outside our planet.
Recently, two probes were sent back and they made it to Mars. They landed on the South Polar Caps of Mars. That is where NASA plans to find water. After landing on Mars, the probes extracted water like crystals from the surface of Mars. They found that there was a small amount of water in the crystals, which means that there is a strong chance that life, was on Mars at one time.
With a field as large as space is, metaphorically and literally, there is no end to all the advantages that can come of exploring the magnificent cosmos. One of the major questions we face currently is the possibility of life on other planets. “NASA's biggest ambition is the hunt for life and a habitat that can support life. Several planned or prepared missions will specifically explore the question of whether or not life exists, or once existed, elsewhere in out solar system” (Folger 3). That's exactly what we plan on using the Curiosity rover for. The MSL (Mars Space Laboratory) Curiosity rover was launched November 26th, 2011 and landed on Mars on August 6th, 2012 (Launch 2). “MSL Curiosity's mission is to analyze the climate, geology, and habitability of Mars to see if there is or has ever been life on Mars. Then, after gathering enough data, it will see if it's feasible to send a manned mission to Mars” (Anthony 2). We are already searching ...
Mars is a very similar planet to earth in relation to size and atmosphere. Therefore it seemed like the most likely place to search for life. At the end of the 19th century, an American named Percival Lowell built himself an observatory so that it was possible for him to study Mars in intimate detail when its orbit was closest to Earth. At this time it had recently been suggested that the planet had a system of channels on the surface, present from the evaporation of flowing water. Looking through his telescope Lowell became convinced he could see a network of artificial canals. This led him to believe that there were intelligent beings on Mars who had built these canals. However, spacecraft have now visited Mars and found that there is no evidence of water at all. It is now thought that the lines he could see were the combination of Lowell's overactive imagination, and scratches on the lens of his telescope. We are now searching one of Jupiter's moons, Europa, as this seems to be the next likely place to hold life.
...ws radiation from the sun to expose the surface of the planet, adding to environment changes. If life exists on Mars today, it is most likely hiding beneath the surface. Over the past four billion years Earth has had many rocks blown from the surface of Mars, after much research, scientists say that of the thirty-four meteorites, three have the potential to carry evidence of past life on Mars (Carey, 2006). Researches have gathered evidence and continue to explore for life outside of Earth. Earth has provided these scientists with enough knowledge to understand the components needed to sustain life, therefore any research found is compared to the knowledge already understood about life on Earth. Earth is home to billions of plants, animals, bacteria and all types of living things, it is where human beings have evolved and adapted making this planet our home.
As I write this paper, I am hoping to find the answers to the following five questions: