Life on other planets...

[Chaunte]

The BBC has a DVD out called Voyage To The Planets.  This is an imaginary grand tour based on science facts.  They go to Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto.  I plan on showing it to my students a little later in the school year.

JPL just recently announced that any oceans on Mars would have been incredibly salty - MUCH saltier than our present oceans.  According to JPL, there are only a handful of terrestrial lifeforms that could have survived in that sea.

As I recall, Mars was struck by an asteroid about 20km across about 2 to 2.5 billion years.  The energy of this impact could have vaporized any remaining oceans.  As perspective, a 10km asteroid impact on Earth is generally regarded as a sterilization even - one that would kill off all life on our planet.

Chaunte

[tekla]

According to JPL, there are only a handful of terrestrial lifeforms that could have survived in that sea.

As far as we know, it only takes one lifeform to start the process.  And, JPL assumes that all lifeforms are based on the terrestrial lifeforms of earth, as that is all they (we) know of.  But does life have to be carbon based?  No one is sure.

[lady amarant]

But does life have to be carbon based?  No one is sure.

Absolutely - we seem to be hell-bent on creating silicon-based life.

There was a show on Discovery a few years ago that featured a different hypothetical planet every week with different values for gravity and stuff, different sun and atmosphere etc. Then they would get all these xeno-biologists and people to come up with an evolutionary model ... then they made a wildlife "documentary" about it using CGI, ala David Attenborough. Now THAT was COOL.

[tekla]

The universe is much to vast to have us as the only life form. 

[drkprincess]

We really don't know enough to say what life is or is not. Who knows what other types of life besides carbon based there could be, or maybe there isnt any other type. And who knows what type of organs other beings might evolve to survive on other planets, such as planets where we could not. Too bad I most likely wont be around long enough to find some of these answers.

~Rachel~

[lady amarant]

We really don't know enough to say what life is or is not. Who knows what other types of life besides carbon based there could be, or maybe there isnt any other type.

Who's to say they'll even be matter-based at all... can you imagine an conscious wave-form or an intelligent beam of light... whole nebulae that act like gigantic organisms... planets and galaxies as alive as we are.

It's not only possible, it's entirely probable...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence

[lisagurl]

M104

[lady amarant]

M104

that is SUCH a cool pic. Thanks for posting it.

[tekla]

If you go to the NASA site, and the JPL site you can get some pretty mindblowing stuff.

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html

[lady amarant]

Thanks Tekla. Space is cooooooooooooool...

[drkprincess]

Sometimes I wonder if we should or should not be exploring the wonders of space. Granted in the distant future we will have to move on when our sun dies off, or create a new one if at all possible. Who is to say we wont piss some aliens off sending out our junk into their space or something of the sort. Can be a scary thought if they are war like as we are.

~Rachel~

[lady amarant]

Sometimes I wonder if we should or should not be exploring the wonders of space. Granted in the distant future we will have to move on when our sun dies off, or create a new one if at all possible. Who is to say we wont piss some aliens off sending out our junk into their space or something of the sort. Can be a scary thought if they are war like as we are.

Or cause mass-extinctions because we import our illnesses onto planets that have no immunity or defense against them...

[tekla]

Who is to say we wont piss some aliens off

Oh, we're humans, its a given.

[drkprincess]

Who is to say we wont piss some aliens off

Oh, we're humans, its a given.

LoL, good point. If we havnt already pissed them off :-D

~Rachel~

[cindianna_jones]

Amino acids, the basic building blocks of life, are created by stars when they go supernova.  Our world and everything in it is built from the matter from an extinct star.

As it turns out, these little aminos are everywhere.  Life is tenacious.  I believe it will grab hold and develop in some of the harshest environments.

As for finding intelligent life in our societies short lifespan..... I doubt it.  We are listening, but unless they have a transmitter actually pointed at us in some way, we won't hear it.  Neither will they hear us.  Our transmissions dissipate long before they reach other stars.

As for going to Mars, I'll let anyone in line in front of me.  I'd rather go to the Moon. There's a much better chance of actually coming back!

Cindi

[drkprincess]

Life is being found here on earth where it was believed that life could not exist, in the antarctic, deep within the mantle, and places within the oceans. I would love to see what they find on Europa if it ever happens in my lifetime.

~Rachel~

[lady amarant]

I would love to see what they find on Europa if it ever happens in my lifetime.

It'll happen in our lifetimes unless we blow ourselves up first. Technology is way further ahead than most people realise - check out some of the science and tech shows here on youtube about transhumanism and machine intelligence and robotics and nanotech and stuff. Scarily amazing!

Check out my favourites at youtube for a great introduction to Transhumanism:

http://www.youtube.com/user/LadyAmarant

[drkprincess]

I would love to see what they find on Europa if it ever happens in my lifetime.

It'll happen in our lifetimes unless we blow ourselves up first. Technology is way further ahead than most people realise - check out some of the science and tech shows here on youtube about transhumanism and machine intelligence and robotics and nanotech and stuff. Scarily amazing!

Check out my favourites at youtube for a great introduction to Transhumanism:

http://www.youtube.com/user/LadyAmarant

Maybe but there are a few problems presented before us. While we do have the technology to send a probe, there is a matter of conducting a survey under the ice of Europa without contaminating the life there. There are tests being done  in the antarctic for this, there has also been a large lake discovered under the antarctic ice. And there could be prehistoric life still living there. There is also the problem with getting through the ice, which is believed to be no less then 3 miles thick. A big task.

~Rachel~

[lady amarant]

Maybe but there are a few problems presented before us. While we do have the technology to send a probe, there is a matter of conducting a survey under the ice of Europa without contaminating the life there. There are tests being done  in the antarctic for this, there has also been a large lake discovered under the antarctic ice. And there could be prehistoric life still living there. There is also the problem with getting through the ice, which is believed to be no less then 3 miles thick. A big task.

Good point Rachel, but ultimately it becomes a question of ethics as opposed to technical ability, and we all know what happens when humanity considers ethical questions...

Somewhere along the line, a big corporation (or China) will send a probe, if only to get there first so they can claim mining rights.

[drkprincess]

Maybe but there are a few problems presented before us. While we do have the technology to send a probe, there is a matter of conducting a survey under the ice of Europa without contaminating the life there. There are tests being done  in the antarctic for this, there has also been a large lake discovered under the antarctic ice. And there could be prehistoric life still living there. There is also the problem with getting through the ice, which is believed to be no less then 3 miles thick. A big task.

Good point Rachel, but ultimately it becomes a question of ethics as opposed to technical ability, and we all know what happens when humanity considers ethical questions...

Somewhere along the line, a big corporation (or China) will send a probe, if only to get there first so they can claim mining rights.

No kidding, lets hope they dont find gold or something... then you can bet ethics will be thrown out the window. Wal-Mart will be the first to go... we will have to prepare a rocket to knock them into Io or something LoL

~Rachel~