Questions tagged [astrobiology]
Questions regarding the study of life outside of Earth.
88
questions
30
votes
3answers
3k views
Is it possible to get pregnant through natural means in space?
The Russians did some early testing with rats (Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, By Mary Roach pg 245) and natural means did not result in pregnancy. Later testing shipped ...
25
votes
4answers
7k views
Why do deep space probes have to be sterilized?
Correct me if I'm wrong but a probe to Mars will take months, during which time it's exposed to a vacuum and irradiated by the sun. It sounds to me like this would kill any micro-organisms on the ...
25
votes
4answers
8k views
Are there types of animals that can't make the trip to space? (physiologically)
I thought about what kind of animals could make it to space, and I thought about how vertebrates can apparently withstand the G forces need to travel to the ISS, but I hadn't really thought about ...
16
votes
3answers
2k views
Could a spacecraft be made out of wood?
Could a spacecraft use organic materials, like wood or bone or shell or other tissues, as an interface to the vacuum and radiation of space? Would wood outgas and crack up in space? I wonder if life ...
15
votes
2answers
765 views
How would the search for life on Mars be affected by having boots on the ground?
It is looking like Mars One might continue to go forward, and even if it doesn't it is fairly likely that we will have people on Mars sooner or later.
Have there been any scholarly estimations of the ...
15
votes
1answer
1k views
Did the Viking landers detect life on Mars?
The two Viking landers had an experiment on board where they attempted to find life on the planet. The initial results said yes, there was life, but later there were questions raised about the results....
14
votes
2answers
1k views
Why not bring life to Venus along with the next exploring mission?
Why not bring cyanobacteria and fertilizer to the atmosphere of Venus to improve conditions for life there by producing oxygen ?
Planetary protection could be a reason.
According to Wikipedia:
...
14
votes
4answers
337 views
What exactly do they look for when searching for extraterrestrial intelligence?
There are some experiments and projects that are searching for extraterrestrial intelligence.(SETI)
I want to know what signs exactly are they looking for? Do they just look for monotone sinusoidal ...
13
votes
1answer
820 views
Has any country stated its official position on how it would respond to a discovery of intelligent extra terrestrial life?
There are currently many programs that are attempting to find intelligent extraterrestrial life. Putting aside the fact that I believe that the chances of this are slim to none, I'm interested in ...
13
votes
4answers
253 views
What properties are used to quantify the odds of a star harboring earth-like life?
Say you start with a list of stars. What properties do we believe to be critical in the present existence or future formation of earth-like life in those star systems? How can one reasonably pare down ...
12
votes
2answers
2k views
Why do we worry about contaminating some solar bodies but not others?
On 15th September 2017, the Cassini probe will be destroyed by crashing it into Saturn. This will be done in order to eliminate the unlikely risk of it crashing into and forward contaminating one of ...
12
votes
2answers
669 views
What existing life on Earth is best suited for the Martian environment?
What existing life on Earth is best suited for the Martian environment? By best suited, I mean it could theoretically be placed on Mars and easily adapt or thrive within the existing environment the ...
12
votes
1answer
1k views
How big is Earth's sphere of broadcast influence?
The question Interstellar eavesdropping points out that we have been broadcasting to space for a long time, currently we are approaching a century. This means every star system in within 100 light ...
12
votes
4answers
632 views
Are we searching for life “as we don't know it”?
The phrase "Life as we know it" is often spoken with a knowing wink, and implies the speaker is in on the big secret. Life on Earth is carbon based and every form of life we know of is on Earth. Which ...
12
votes
1answer
1k views
Melanized fungi on the ISS - are they 'enjoying' the elevated radiation levels there?
The end of this excellent answer lead me to Wikipedia which linked to The blacker the better… especially in Chernobyl and Chernobyl Fungus Feeds On Radiation. One passage in 'blacker the better' ...
12
votes
1answer
356 views
Fish in space: what were the results?
I've been interested in the Japanese experiment on the ISS involving raising fish in space, but in all my reading the results seem a bit ambiguous/conflicting (depending on source).
What are the ...
11
votes
4answers
1k views
Is a combination of 'space is big' and 'humans haven't been around long' a good solution to the Fermi paradox?
The Fermi paradox is basically that:
There are billions of stars, life is probably abundant throughout the universe.
Even though it may take tens of thousands or millions of years for life on other ...
11
votes
2answers
464 views
Are we alone after all? Understanding the recent re-evaluation of the Drake Equation
The Quartz.com article We may have answered the Fermi Paradox: We are alone in the universe says:
Researchers of Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute have another answer. It’s likely ...
11
votes
2answers
426 views
Why is the surface of Mars oxidized?
Before 2.5 to 2Gya, Earth's surface was a chemically reducing environment (evidence includes reduced forms of iron, sulfur, and uranium in rocks before that time). It is believed to have become ...
10
votes
3answers
3k views
Is it ethical for Chang'e-4 to bring an entire ecosystem to the moon? [closed]
As far as I know, it isn't ethical to contaminate outer space with life from Earth, because then we will never be sure if life can actually grow there. However, I just read reports that the latest ...
10
votes
3answers
402 views
Does man send any signal to attract aliens?
Does man send any signal (such as electromagnetic radiation) to space to attract aliens?
10
votes
2answers
491 views
Interstellar eavesdropping
For about a century, humanity has broadcasted noise to space in the form of TV broadcasts, radio, etc...
The nearest star is 4.242 light-years away, so for about 90 years, aliens -- if they exist in ...
10
votes
1answer
467 views
Plankton found outside the ISS, what is the substance in that claim?
There's been a news article around claiming that cosmonauts have found sea plankton on the outside of the international space station, for example here. Is there any substance to this claim? Have any ...
9
votes
4answers
27k views
Why can't plants grow on Mars?
Mars has a lot of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere. It also gets a lot of sunlight. On Earth, plants use carbon dioxide and sunlight for photosynthesis. So, why can't plants live on Mars?
9
votes
2answers
273 views
If I wanted to try to terraform Mars, who would have the authority to stop me?
Let’s say hypothetically I could fund a rocket ship and pack it with lots of biomaterial. Biomaterial that would hopefully survive the impact, reproduce and potentially alter the atmosphere of Mars.
...
9
votes
1answer
3k views
How will the Voyager Golden Record last for 1 billion years?
In the Radiolab podcast Space episode (2004) Ann Druyan mentioned that the contents of the Voyager Golden Record will last for 1 billion years before the contents of the Record becomes unreadable. ...
9
votes
1answer
586 views
Does NASA have any documented procedures in the event of discovery of extraterrestrial life?
Say that one of NASA's probes discovers definite evidence of life outside of Earth. Does NASA have any procedures in place on how to deal with such a situation? For instance, do they have to inform ...
9
votes
1answer
147 views
Would we be able to detect signs of life from the contents of a water plume?
Hubble has detected water vapor plumes shooting out of Europa
Wikipedia writes to say
it is predicted that the outer crust of solid ice is approximately 10–30 km (6–19 mi) thick
Getting to ...
8
votes
1answer
408 views
Why is the northeastern region of Syrtis Major Planum a selected landing site for the Mars 2020 mission?
Image below:
One of the 3 selected landing sites, on the left side of Jezero crater, which is also selected !
A workshop for the Mars 2020 Rover mission was held in February 2017 that selected 3 ...
8
votes
1answer
546 views
Which earth-based lifeforms can survive the vacuum of space?
The Tardigrade (or Water Bear) is a remarkable creature:
It is able to survive in all sorts of extreme environments (taken from wikipedia):
temperatures from just above absolute zero to well above ...
8
votes
1answer
850 views
What evidence would be needed to determine a signal was artificial in origin?
Humanity has received some odd signals in the past. We've also sent out some signals ourselves.
How could we determine that a signal we'd received was artificial in origin? Or of course inversely, ...
8
votes
2answers
973 views
DNA or even life in vacuum of space
Does anyone know of any missions planned or in progress that are searching in the very vacuum of space for the complex organic molecules that are key indicators of life (such as DNA, RNA, etc.), or ...
8
votes
1answer
516 views
Has Earth ever sent out a repeating signal into space?
My understanding is that for us to confirm that a signal is of artificial origin, we have to get the same signal at least twice. However, as far as I can tell, most of the signals we've sent out to ...
8
votes
1answer
239 views
Why not simulate certain regions of the atmosphere of Venus?
Many people would like to know if any form of life could survive anywhere in the atmosphere of Venus.
Researchers have simulated conditions on Mars and found that after a month some cyanobacteria ...
7
votes
1answer
194 views
Why is Enceladus the “most interesting place for astrobiology” in the Solar System other than Earth?
In season 1 episode 1 of Space's Deepest Secrets (IMDB), Dr. Chris McKay, a planetary scientist for NASA, says around 1h:40m into the show, "This is the single most important and interesting place for ...
7
votes
1answer
158 views
Iron Oxidation Mechanism on Mars
My question relates more to the possibilities of life on Mars than to mining mineral deposits. QUESTION: Is it possible to have oxidized iron in the quantities that we see on Mars with only available ...
7
votes
0answers
761 views
Could there be liquid hydrogen oceans on the surfaces of worlds (including frozen gas giants) in the distant Kuiper belt or Oort cloud?
This is something I'm wondering for a science book I'm writing (not science fiction) where I cover the various forms of life that could exist especially in our solar system - such as life on Mars of ...
6
votes
2answers
215 views
Could the James Webb Space Telescope detect chlorophyll on a exoplanet?
Say there's an exoplanet identical to Earth 20 light years away, and also assume it orbits at an angle so that it transits its star when seen from our solar system. Would the JWST be able to detect ...
6
votes
1answer
244 views
Is it possible to observe satellites orbiting exoplanets?
Is it possible to observe a satellite orbiting a distant exoplanet? If its possible, it would seem to indicate that we have found intelligent life on that planet, since you need advanced technology to ...
6
votes
1answer
136 views
Does exploration of Venus' atmosphere now require any planetary protection protocols?
This answer quotes Marc Rayman's August 21, 2018 Dawn Journal entry:
Not all solar system bodies need such protection. The Moon, Mercury and Venus, for example, have not been of interest for ...
6
votes
1answer
147 views
Could metal sulfates stay in the sulfuric acid layer of Venus?
For cyanobacteria metal ions like K+, Mg+ and other essential nutrients like phosphorus are vital for growing and to expand.
So they could only thrive in the clouds of Venus if at least metal ions ...
6
votes
1answer
347 views
What type of rock or soil on Mars will give Nostoc Commune cyanobacteria the best chance to survive there?
Photo taken by YAMAMAYA
Cyanobacteria are a group of photosynthetic bacteria, who use the energy of light to synthesize organic compounds from carbon dioxide, and producing oxygen this way.
Nostoc ...
5
votes
2answers
533 views
Which potential landing sites were identified at the MSL Landing Site workshops?
In the Wikipedia article Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory it is mentioned that at the first MSL Landing Site workshop, 33 potential landing sites were identified, and that by the second workshop in ...
5
votes
1answer
441 views
What other bodies in the solar system are most likely to contain forms of life?
There have been many candidates stated as potential habitats for life outside of Earth, but what are considered to be the most likely to harbor life?
5
votes
2answers
1k views
How does the presence of water on a planet indicate a likelihood of life?
As title says. We find water on a planet, and we assume that it's more likely life is there. How/why is this the case? Isn't it possible some life could survive without water? Even if the answer is '...
5
votes
2answers
563 views
Have extremophiles and anaerobic extremophiles been studied in space?
Extremophiles are organisms that can survive in physically and geothermally extreme conditions. The anaerobic variety do not require oxygen in order to survive.
Has extremophiles' survival, in ...
5
votes
1answer
119 views
Why are Viking LR results not sufficient evidence of life on Mars?
Gil Levin, one of the scientists involved with the 1976 Viking mission to Mars, has claimed and continues to claim that there is life on Mars, based off the positive results of the Labeled Release (LR)...
5
votes
1answer
462 views
Were the Voyager Golden Record / Arecibo message tested for decodability
I was wondering if the microgroove golden records they put on the Voyager spacecraft, or the Arecibo message, along with instruction on how to decode it, were first put to the test with the subjects ...
5
votes
0answers
138 views
Are Peace Vallis and it's alluvial fan on Mars classified as special regions or not?
According to the answer for this question, that was not accepted, alluvial fans might have water and thus a IVc category mission would be required to visit such an area.
Curiosity meets only the IVa ...
4
votes
3answers
439 views
What are the valid arguments for forward contamination, given the uniqueness of proteins?
What is the scientific foundation for the hypothesis that human space exploration accidentally could spread Earth life to e.g. Mars and cause contamination which is indistinguishable from any ...
