Life Uh... Finds a Way

There's a serious slew of debate on where life could be found outside of Earth. A lot of the discussion centers around the idea that life that develops elsewhere will necessarily require the things that life on our planet requires; Oxygen, liquid water, carbon compounds.

On one hand, I can see the arguments why the discussion leans towards "Earthlike" life. As far as we know, Earth alone holds the only example of complex self replicating organisms in the universe. If it works here and it works like this, it will work elsewhere if the conditions are correct. But what if the conditions are incorrect? Does that largely rule out life occurring elsewhere? Fortunately, I don't think so.

When we try to assess the statistical likelihood of life in other parts of our galaxy, for example, we look at the examples we have in front of us and extrapolate. This isn't necessarily bad to do, if you're looking for life that is similar to Earth life. However, if you are searching for any life, then you might be missing something.What about intelligent life?

Consider for example the Drake Equation:

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

R* is the average rate of star formation in the galaxy, or number of stars over time.

fp is the fraction of those stars with planets.

ne is the number of planets that could potentially support life.

fl is the fraction of those planets that actually go on to support life.

fi is the fraction of those planets that go on to support intelligent life.

fc is the fraction of those that develop technology that is detectable from space

L is the length of time these civilizations emit detectable signs.

Of course, everything up to, but not including fc is relevant for this discussion. In fact, the most important one would likely be ne. What does a planet that could potentially support life look like? Certainly it could look like ours, but if we were to expand our minds a bit, we could easily see that we don't necessarily even need planets. For example, take Jupiter's moon Europa:

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Due to tidal flexing, it is hypothesized that a massive subsurface ocean exists under a thick crust of water ice. A scant atmosphere of primarily oxygen exists, which though various processes might mean a rather large supply of oxygen in this subsurface ocean. It's something fundamentally different from what we would expect to see on Earth, but in many ways very similar. Here are two models of what might be happening under the surface:

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

While the author holds out an optimistic hope for a liquid water subsurface ocean, more investigation is required. The potential for one of the most profound discoveries in human history lies on a small, unassuming moon covered in ice. Right in our own backyard. Here's the really great thing; if this turns out to be a bust, and the top model is a more accurate representation, then there's still hope. Meet Enceladus:

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

This Saturnian moon exhibits similar characteristics to Europa that suggest a subsurface ocean might also exist here. This is interesting for many reasons. First, we know that water is the most abundant tri-atomic molecule in the universe because it consists of hydrogen and oxygen. These are the first and eight most common elements that exist. Second, it is possible that many gas giants throughout the galaxy and beyond might have similar icy moons that exhibit tidal flexing. Gas giants are among the most common types of planets out there. It seems possible that if life can emerge in such places, that subsurface ocean life could possibly be the most common type of life.

That's a far cry from our warm, comfortable Earth.

The moral of the story: Life like ours could be rare, but other forms of habitable places could be in relative abundance. All it takes is for self replicating molecules - and by association, life - to find a way.

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