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Life in the Cosmos

Hypography has taken a look at what goes on in the search for life in the Universe. It is a far bigger effort than you might think.

Posted by Tormod Guldvog
09 January, 2003 06:01:19

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So, the 1999 Martian Meteorite may not have contained life after all. But while it turned out to be a cosmic joke, the laughter softened after last week's surprise news that NASA has found compelling evidence for ancient lakes on Mars. They believe that they have found traces of sedimentary rock.

On Earth, that's were all the fossils are. Obviously, there is a possibility that we may find fossils on Mars as well. It would be a breakthrough of unimaginable dimensions.

But the eyes of the life-hunters are not focused only on Mars. NASA and other research institutions are spending vast amounts on money on finding the keys to cosmic chemistry, in which they hope to see the signature of life.

If they do, the answer to one of our most fundamental questions may be: "Life did not originate on Earth."

Related Links

Molecular Astrophysics
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/astrophysics.html
This is a presentation of molecular astrophysics, written by a researcher at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Is There Extraterrestrial Life in the Universe?
http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~jh8h/Foundations/drake.html
This is a good introduction to search for life in the Universe. It is a brief explanation of the Drake equation which (with mathematical wizardry) states that the odds for life existing outside the Earth is pretty good.

The NASA Center for Computational Astrobiology
http://cca.arc.nasa.gov/
NASA has a page for everything. This is a center for NASA's effort to search for chemical sources of life in the Universe.

SETI Institute Online
http://www.seti-inst.edu/
The homepage of the SETI (Search for extra-terrestrial intelligence) Institute.

An exobiological strategy for Mars exploration
http://exobiology.nasa.gov/Exobiology_Program/Mars_Exo_Strategy_Doc.html
This is a huge document outlining NASA's strategies for searching for life on Mars. This is very interesting reading!

Astrobiologists find evidence of early life on land
http://origins.jpl.nasa.gov/library/quest/112900-a.html
As we look for extreme living in the Cosmos, life turns up in one of the harshest conditions we know of: the young Earth.

The Search for Extreme Life
http://www.sciam.com/2000/0700issue/0700profile.html
An article in Scientific American about NASA's search for life in the Universe.

Is anybody out there?
http://www.newscientist.com/nsplus/insight/astrobiology/astrobiology.html
This is a New Scientist special feature on astrobiology, or the search for life in the Universe.

Life in Extreme Environments
http://www.astrobiology.com/extreme.html
This is a directory hosted by Astrobiology.com, with links to articles and websites about how life arises and is sustained in extreme environments.

Asteroid storm pounded Earth, moon as life formed
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/12/07/lunar.cataclysm/index.html
Article in CNN Interactive about new discoveries which show that life occurred on the Earth at the same time as a major asteroid storm.

Seti@HOME
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
The home page of the seti@home project. Now you can take part in the hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence!