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The Search for Life on Other Planets
Bruce Jakosky
The search for Life on other Planets
Litho St.
Sausalito, CA 94965
3 1 1 01777 7622
(415) 289-4121
Does life exist on other planets? This topical book presents the
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The Search for Life on Other Planets
Bruce Jakosky
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Cambridge
UNIVERSITY PRESS
IM
PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP, United Kingdom
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Jakosky, Bruce M.
The search for life on other planets / by Bruce Jakosky.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
QB54.I25 1998
576.8'39-dc21 97-51549 CIP
Preface [vii]
Index [324]
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2012
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Preface
The possibility that there might be life on other planets has become a
major topic of public debate since 1995. The two specific incidents that
triggered the discussions were the discoveries of planets around other
stars and of possible fossil evidence in meteorites that have come from
Mars for life there. Neither of these discoveries, however, provides com-
pelling evidence for the existence of extraterrestrial life, and it is unlikely
that the existence of life elsewhere will be confirmed before the end of the
century. Despite these uncertainties many if not most, scientists believe
that it is very likely that life exists.
possible existence around other stars, and the nature of intelligent life -
have been of considerable scientific interest for a long time, and consider-
able efforts have been ongoing in each of these areas for decades. Within
the last decade, especially, new advances in planetary science and in ter-
It is only with the recent discoveries, though, that the issue has bubbled up
again into the realm of public awareness.
Within the mainstream planetary science community, many of the
issues related to life in the universe have, in turn, been shunned and
embraced. In the years following the Viking spacecraft mission to Mars in
1976 to look for life, very few planetary scientists were working on ques-
tions pertaining to life on other planets and there was very little crossover
between planetary science and exobiology or origin-of-life research. Since
the mid-1990s, however, there has been much more crossover, and the bio-
logical questions have come to the forefront again. Although cynics will
argue that this is merely a play for more funding and public attention,
where in our solar system, and the likely existence of planets orbiting other
tions on Earth between the geological and the biological events of the last 4
billion years were strong. Over time, the question of life on other planets
pushed its way more and more into my planetary course until, this year, it
The book divides naturally up into several topics - the origin and early
evolution of life on Earth; environmental conditions necessary for life; the
possibility of life on other planets in the solar system; the occurrence of
planets around other stars, their habitability, and the possibility of life
there; and the nature of intelligent life and the philosophical implications
of finding life. Some of these topics are treated in much more depth than
others, consistent with our current level of understanding and with the
"planetary" approach taken here.
I have not tried to reference each idea back to its original source or to
use embedded references. The range of topics is so broad that, if I did, the
reference list would comprise several thousand references. Rather, I've
with Tom Ayres, Sue Barnes, Mike Carr, Phil Christensen, Bill Cochran,
David Des Marais, Jack Farmer, David Grinspoon, Kevin Hutchins, Chuck
Klein, Paul Lucey, Jane Luu, Geoff Marcy, Hap McSween, Mike Meyer, Mark
Miesch, Ken Nealson, Norman Pace, Cora Randall, Nick Schneider, Everett
Shock, Bill Schopf, Steve Squyres, Glen Stewart, and Richard Zurek. I am
grateful for comments on early versions of individual chapters or of the
entire text to Mark Bullock, Mike Carr, Frank Crary, Kevin Hutchins, Jim
Kasting, Geoff Marcy, Chris McKay, Ken Nealson, Frank Palluconi, Nick
Schneider, and Len Tyler. Of course, any remaining misunderstandings,
inconsistencies, or mistakes are my own. also would like to thank Adam
I
images and figures. In addition, I thank Heather Weisacosky for her valu-
Last, but certainly not least, I am grateful to Jane Karyl for her support
and encouragement during the entire writing process.
Bruce Jakosky
The search for life in the universe
The possible existence of life elsewhere in our solar system or in the uni-
verse is one of the most profound issues that we can contemplate.
Whatever the answer turns out to be - whether life is present elsewhere or
absent - our view of the world and our place within it will be dramatically
affected. If a single example of even the most rudimentary life form can be
found on another world, that will tell us that the origin of life is not unique
to the Earth. We will not be able to help but wonder if intelligent life exists
that is more advanced or more sophisticated than us. We will wonder
whether the paths that we have chosen as a society are the most beneficial
paths. Indeed, it would be a very humbling experience to realize that we
are not alone in our existence. On the other hand, if no evidence is found
suggesting other life, we may view the Earth and all its inhabitants with a
narrow, pinhole focus that makes us unique, on an isolated plane within a
vast universe. This view is well expressed in the thought, attributed vari-
ously to either the philosopher Bertrand Russell or the science-fiction
writer Isaac Asimov, 'There are two possibilities. Maybe we're alone. Maybe
we're not. Both are equally frightening.'.
Ours is the first generation that can begin to address in a thorough
manner the scientific details of the origin of life on the Earth and the
possibilities of the existence of life elsewhere in the universe. Although we
do not understand the specific details of the origin of life on Earth, we have
learned a great deal about the conditions that surrounded the earliest life.
In addition, we have just begun to explore the rest of our solar system and
to look for planets outside of it. Most of the planets in our solar system have
been visited with spacecraft, and humans have walked on the surface of
the Moon. Many details regarding the climate and habitability of the other
planets are now understood, and the search for evidence of other life can
begin. The Viking spacecraft was used to look for life on Mars in the late
1970s - none was found - but we now know that Viking might have been
searching in the wrong place or with the wrong instruments.
The discovery in 1995 and 1996 of planets orbiting around other stars
importance. Even though the new planets are for the most part more
Jupiter-like than Earth-like, we can use their existence to begin constrain
ing theories that apply to all planets. Certainly, Earth-like planets - planets
[Figure 1.1]
tence of any life in the universe other than on our own planet. This does not
mean that there is no life, only that we have just begun the search. Our
tools for scientific exploration are just reaching the point where we can
The search for life in the universe
Figure 1.2]
does not refer only to the study of biological activity on other planets
(especially since we know of none today)- It also refers to the occurrence oi
planets within the universe, and the habitability of all planets. As such, u
favor, it was felt that the Earth and life on Earth were simply the agglomera-
number of smaller elements, and that these elements could
tion of a large
come together elsewhere just as easily. Against, the Earth was felt to be at a
special place in the universe - the center - and terrestrial life must be
unique. Copernicus was able to argue more than ten centuries later, in the
sixteenth century, that the Earth was not the center of the universe. With
the recognition that the stars were objects similar to our own Sun, it was
felt by many that planets must be located around them - otherwise the
stars' existence would be wasted. As recently as the beginning of this
century, the presence of advanced life on Mars was generally accepted by
the public. Orson Welles' radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds in 1936
highlighted this belief and fueled the idea of alien invasion that now has
become so popular.
Today, the views on other life in the universe are incredibly diverse. At
one end of the spectrum are those who believe that the universe is widely
populated by intelligent beings, that the Earth is regularly visited by aliens
from outer space, that aliens show themselves to the world in the form of
UFOs but have not formally announced their existence, and that humans
and other animals are routinely being abducted by aliens for experimental
study. At the opposite end, some argue that the Earth is absolutely unique
in having life, and that there can be no other occurrence of life anywhere
else in the universe. In between, a large fraction of the people - including
many, but certainly not all, scientists - believe that life on Earth is a
natural consequence of physical and chemical processes, and that life
IFigure 1.3]
James.)
entities larger than the simplest single cells left their mark; and, it wasn't
until about 600 million years ago - after about 6/7 of the Earth's history to
date had passed - that substantially more-complex life forms began to
appear. In many ways, bacteria still can be considered the most wide-
spread form of life on the Earth. Much of the discussion in this book will
focus on the ability of the simplest life to occur and to exist. It is not likely
that we will encounter intelligent or advanced beings in our search of the
universe, given the low probability of intelligence arising elsewhere.
However, this does not negate the importance of finding other life: from
the philosophical perspective, finding life of any sort is just as important as
finding intelligent life. It would demonstrate that life was widespread
within the universe rather than concentrated only on a single world.
The most likely place within our own solar system for finding other life
is the planet Mars (Figure 1.3). Although Mars is relatively cold and dry on
its surface today, it certainly was not so in the past . The geological evidence
that we see shows that liquid water has been present on Mars throughout
much of its history. Liquid water is the single environmental requirement
conditions on the Earth at the same time. This was a time when life was
forming on the Earth, and life may have been forming on Mars inde-
pendently from the Earth. In addition, it is possible that terrestrial life
might have been exported to Mars in its early history, by the impact of an
asteroid onto the Earth's surface and by the ejection of rocks containing
bacteria into space. Even if Mars does not harbor life today, it still is an
important target in the search for extraterrestrial life. If there is no life on
Mars, and no evidence for a past existence of life, it would then be impor-
tant to understand what caused the Earth and Mars to differ so dramat-
ically in their outcomes.
There are other possible abodes of life in our solar system, however. It is
possible to imagine that life might exist on Europa or Io, both of which are
satellites orbiting around Jupiter (Figure 1.4). Although Io does not have
any visible evidence of water, it has an obvious source of energy in its
abundant volcanic activity. Europa, on the other hand, has large amounts
of water- as ice on the surface and maybe as a 'mantle' of liquid only kilo-
meters below the surface. In fact, even Jupiter could conceivably harbor
life in its atmosphere, feeding on the organic compounds that are present
there (Figure 1.5).
Although we do not know for certain how life first began, we do have an
understanding of what the relevant processes were likely to have been.
Once we understand the conditions that allowed life to occur on the
Earth, we can begin to address the question of life elsewhere. Is there life in
the rest of our solar system? Rather than proceed through a lengthy discus-
sion of each planet, we will focus on the most likely and most interesting
The search for life in the universe
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