Extraterrestrial life in our Solar System

[nN3b0]

I'm eager to discuss with you about extraterrestrial life in our Solar System and beyond.

First question I asked myself is:

What are requirements for life to evolve from dead atoms and molecules to organic molecules, from single cell organisms to higher life forms on some newly formed planet or moon, let say we are talking about our Solar System.

Just here on Earth we have so much alien life that we can't imagine,

we have bacteria that can live and reproduce on 122°C (252°F), some of them can thrive in very acidic or alkaline conditions, Picrophilus torridus can live in pH 0 and that's like living in sulfuric acid.

These were all bacteria, there is a creature that can withstand even worse condition,

Tardigrades are classified as extremophiles, these creatrures can thrive in physically or geochemically extreme conditions that would be detrimental for most life on Earth.

Tardigrades can withstand temperature just above absolute zero (-273.14°C) to well above boiling point of water.

They can survive pressures 6 times stronger than pressures found in the deepest oceans trenches.

They can go without food or water 10 years.

Let's discuss about this for start and later we will move on,

could creature like this one live in our Solar System on moons around Jupiter or Saturn that are actually offering much better condition for life than this creature can survive?

And what it could become for millions of years of evolving and adapting to environment?

There is much more to life than we know, share this video and let's all talk about it until truth come out!

http://youtu.be/o8dnVwhbIp0

[swansont]

Life that might start elsewhere in the solar system will almost certainly not be like what we have on earth, where we have liquid water. I think any starting point for such discussion would have to involve the chemistry under the conditions of places outside of earth, e.g. like Titan.

[nN3b0]

But we have liquid water under ice sheets of moons Europa and Enceladus, that's 100% certain.

 

 

 

This is actual picture of Enceladus water geysers that erupted directly to space, probably because ice sheet cracked due to gravitational force of Satrun.

Of course there is also famous Titan with it's lakes of liquid methane...
I will make video about every moon in solar system that could theoretically host any kind of life.

I hope we will all discuss on this topics, it's interesting when you put all data together and imagine what could possibly live there.

Edited March 30, 2014 by nN3b0

[Moontanman]

I think Titan is the most interesting possibility for life not as we know it. Odds are life in water is likely to be rather similar to Earth life and due to panspermia it might be identical at least genetically. Pieces knocked off Earth or Mars could seed life to the Ice moons or it's quite possible ice moons is where life really began, Enceladus, actually spouts out water geysers that parts escape and the water does contain organic particles similar to bacteria in size.

 

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

 

Enceladus is one of only two outer Solar System bodies with confirmed liquid water, with water-containing plumes also present on Jupiter's moon Europa. Active eruptions on Jupiter's moon Io's sulfur volcanoes and Neptune's moon Triton's nitrogen "geysers"have also been observed, but these do not contain water. Analysis of the outgassing suggests that it originates from a body of subsurface liquid water, which along with the unique chemistry found in the plume, has fueled speculations that Enceladus may be important in the study of astrobiology.^[18] The discovery of the plume has added further weight to the argument that material released from Enceladus is the source of the E ring.

In May 2011 NASA scientists at an Enceladus Focus Group Conference reported that Enceladus "is emerging as the most habitable spot beyond Earth in the Solar System for life as we know it".^[19]

 

[Dekan]

Even if all the above posts are true, they only show that the Solar System may contain very primitive life. Like bacteria.

 

But who wants that - Bacteria are only the stuff you clean off with a toothbrush. You wouldn't try to communicate with gum-disease bacteria. So why get excited about bacterial scum on Enceladus? They're not worth bothering with.

 

What we really need is an advanced form of life in the Solar System. Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any. Even supposing that Jupiter has multicellular life-forms floating about under its clouds, they aren't transmitting on radio, so they're just animals like seagulls or dolphins. What can such creatures offer in the way of intelligent discourse. You might as well try to discuss quantum theory with a cat.

 

The great tragedy with humankind, or so it seems to me, is this - we've developed spaceflight. This gives us the ability, with our rockets, to travel to the other planets. Yet, there seems no point in doing so. Because the other planets are not worth going to. They're just barren rocks, or giant balls of poisonous gas. We find ourselves in a dead solar system - at least from the viewpoint of intelligence. The system hasn't got any other minds we can communicate with. Who wants mindless bacteria?

 

It could've been so different! If only Mars and Venus had been worlds like our Earth. With sapient creatures on them, to talk to and fight! Then Terran spaceships would be busily criss-crossing the solar system, bringing interplanetary trade, and exciting empires and wars, like in 1950's SF. That's how it might've been.

 

But look at the situation as it is. The solar system is a dead duck. So In order to find worthwhile extra-terrestrial minds to contend with (physically - not just by radio) we must go to the stars. Can we ever do that?

[Moontanman]

Even if all the above posts are true, they only show that the Solar System may contain very primitive life. Like bacteria.

 

But who wants that - Bacteria are only the stuff you clean off with a toothbrush. You wouldn't try to communicate with gum-disease bacteria. So why get excited about bacterial scum on Enceladus? They're not worth bothering with.

 

What we really need is an advanced form of life in the Solar System. Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any. Even supposing that Jupiter has multicellular life-forms floating about under its clouds, they aren't transmitting on radio, so they're just animals like seagulls or dolphins. What can such creatures offer in the way of intelligent discourse. You might as well try to discuss quantum theory with a cat.

 

The great tragedy with humankind, or so it seems to me, is this - we've developed spaceflight. This gives us the ability, with our rockets, to travel to the other planets. Yet, there seems no point in doing so. Because the other planets are not worth going to. They're just barren rocks, or giant balls of poisonous gas. We find ourselves in a dead solar system - at least from the viewpoint of intelligence. The system hasn't got any other minds we can communicate with. Who wants mindless bacteria?

 

It could've been so different! If only Mars and Venus had been worlds like our Earth. With sapient creatures on them, to talk to and fight! Then Terran spaceships would be busily criss-crossing the solar system, bringing interplanetary trade, and exciting empires and wars, like in 1950's SF. That's how it might've been.

 

But look at the situation as it is. The solar system is a dead duck. So In order to find worthwhile extra-terrestrial minds to contend with (physically - not just by radio) we must go to the stars. Can we ever do that?

 

 

True, but they could be our alien overlords just as easily...

I've read some speculations about silicon life on Titan, complex silane based, we haven't seen enough of the surface to be sure they don't have cities but no detectable technologies. Of course complex but less stable than our own hydrocarbons is a much more likely possibility.

 

There was a novel about intelligent life on Titan, a race of intelligent machines that landed on titan millions of years ago and proliferated into an ecosystem based on nano type machines and larger macro type machines. I can't remember who wrote it but it was a good novel...

 

I have most of a short story written about life on titan as well..

[davidivad]

this may be a stray of topic, but imagine that titan has a small enough mass that biological emissions may be a means of propulsion.

what is life on titan doing?

it is just farting around...

[Moontanman]

this may be a stray of topic, but imagine that titan has a small enough mass that biological emissions may be a means of propulsion.

what is life on titan doing?

it is just farting around...

 

 

Actually Earth ejects significant amounts of material during large impacts...

[nN3b0]

Even if all the above posts are true, they only show that the Solar System may contain very primitive life. Like bacteria.

 

But who wants that - Bacteria are only the stuff you clean off with a toothbrush. You wouldn't try to communicate with gum-disease bacteria. So why get excited about bacterial scum on Enceladus? They're not worth bothering with.

 

The point is that if life started here in our Solar System at least twice on two different worlds, that gives us a proof that life is just everywhere around every star,

and only condition on some planet will determine what kind of life will evolve out there.

 

For me there is just a question about what they are like, and by "they" I mean species capable for interstellar travel.