What is happening on other planets. Is there life on other planets

If the word “man” means a certain type of animal, the species that Linnaeus called Homo sapiens, that is, a rational person, then the question posed in the title can be answered in the most categorical form in the negative.

Such a person, which is found on Earth, cannot exist on other planets. Intelligent beings can be on the planets, but it is absolutely unbelievable that these beings have the structure and appearance of a person. Man on Earth descended from his ape-like ancestors, these ancestors descended from lower apes, apes from semi-monkeys, and so on. Among the ancestors of man, starting with the simplest single-celled animal, or amoeba, we can count a huge number of the most diverse animals. In order for a being resembling a human to appear on the planet, it is necessary that this being in its development pass exactly through the same stages through which the development of man went on earth. If at least one of these countless ancestors differed even slightly from the corresponding human ancestor, then even then the final result of development cannot be a creature that is completely similar to a person.

Even on Earth, where conditions are more or less uniform everywhere, biologists do not admit the possibility of the independent emergence of the same species of animal in two different places on the globe. If the wolf is found in Europe and North America, it is not because this animal originated independently in each of these countries, but because the wolf was born from its ancestors in the Old World, and then along the isthmus that connected Asia with America, moved to America. In the same way, all races of people, despite the great difference between them in appearance, biologists produce from one human species and from one race, the descendants of which settled throughout the Earth. It is all the more improbable that the same human breed could be produced, on the one hand, on Earth, and, on the other hand, on some planet where life conditions are completely different.

There may be intelligent beings on the planets, but we cannot say anything definite about how they are arranged. Undoubtedly, only that they must have a large accumulation of nervous tissue, i.e., a brain, and, consequently, a large head, otherwise they could not be intelligent. They may have four or two legs, they may also have wings, but they must certainly have organs adapted for grasping, that is, something like our hands. Without such organs, i.e. without hands, the mind of these creatures could not be properly applied and could not develop. As a consequence, the first glimpses of reason would soon die out.

Does it exist extraterrestrial life?

Space exploration has shown that not only our home world has the components necessary for the emergence of life. Such compounds can be found everywhere - from asteroids to giant gas clouds, they are not at all rare guests in the universe. Maybe, alien life is right under our noses, we just need to reject the usual patterns. In addition to the Earth, there are at least eight other worlds in our solar system, one of which can cause a sensation - after all, they will find unearthly life. Of course, organic molecules are just building blocks for living organisms, but where, if not in the solar system, should we start our search.

Venus

Venus is a branch of hell, it’s a pity Dante didn’t see it, because the temperature on its surface is close to 480 degrees, the pressure is 92 atmospheres and eternal twilight reigns. On a planet covered with dense clouds of sulfur dioxide, the greenhouse effect rules the ball of monstrous force. Of course, there is nothing living on the surface, but there is a chance to find bacteria in the upper layers. Venusian atmosphere, at an altitude of about one hundred kilometers.

Mars

In the past, Mars was a twin of the Earth, the first billion years of its existence on the surface of the planet were rivers, lakes, seas and even a huge ocean. This watery past has left many geological clues, such as riverbeds. a dry and cold world, there is no water on the surface, what remains is frozen; sometimes water breaks out from underground sources and even exists in liquid form for some time due to the high concentration of salts. In addition, there is a mysterious underground source of methane on Mars, which may indicate the existence of life, but whether it is on the red planet or not, we have yet to find out.

Ceres

The idea of ​​the existence of life on an asteroid may seem strange. But when asteroids fall to Earth, you can find not only 20 amino acids important for life, but also a hundred others. Can it boast of the presence of life (this is the status received by the largest object of the asteroid belt)? Probably not, but we must remember that this is a pantry of chemical elements, and anything could happen in billions of years. We just need to look closer.

Europe

The second largest satellite of Jupiter, at first glance, is too far from the Sun to seriously talk about something living, but it has a huge under-ice ocean of water, warmed by the core of the planet. constantly acts on the satellite, causing its periodic deformations, which is the reason for the heating of the planet's core. This gives hope for the existence of geothermal sources at the bottom of the ocean, which are real oases of life on Earth.

Enceladus

This small icy moon of Saturn is only 500 km in diameter, but this world is unique in its giant geysers gushing from its south pole. Hidden under the ice is a water ocean warmed by the core of the planet, because, despite its modest size, Enceladus is geologically active. With a small satellite, the same thing happens as with Europe - it warms up. In order not to bring the terrestrial microflora to Enceladus in case of an accidental collision, the team of the Cassini apparatus specially sent him on his last journey to Saturn.

Titanium

Titan is a mysterious world that can be a haven for completely new forms of life, but here the question arises - what should be considered life? At a surface temperature of minus 180, water becomes a stone and not a single terrestrial organism will survive this. But the largest satellite of Saturn has a dense atmosphere, rivers flow on it, there are lakes and seas, but they do not contain water, but liquid methane. ? Why not, in the vast universe everything is possible.

Triton

The largest satellite of Neptune is not famous, but this world is worthy of close attention. Triton once belonged to the Kuiper belt, surpassing Pluto and Eris in mass and size; it has a mass of components necessary for the emergence of life - nitrogen, oxygen, water and methane ice. Can primitive life arise there? The answer will give only a close study of this distant world.

Pluto

Can such a distant, cold world be a haven for life? It would seem not, but according to new data, there is a subsurface ocean on Pluto. Think about it, even there is an ocean! What other surprises does this little planet have in store for us? Only a mission with a landing on can answer this question.

Our loneliness in the universe is an illusion, for sure life in other worlds exists, you just need to be more careful and abandon stereotypes.

In recent years, there has been much discussion in astronomical circles about the search for life on other planets, so much so that a new term has been coined for this research - astrobiology, since there is no evidence yet that life exists elsewhere.

Astrobiology is the science of the origin of evolution and the spread of life for which there is as yet no data, or at least no data to support it.

Search for life in the solar system

Since there is no support for the claim that life exists on other planets, much attention is being paid to finding planetary conditions favorable for life.

Mars has been in the spotlight for a very long time and is now being planned for Martian soil samples. The red planet is about half the size of Earth, and it has at least a thin atmosphere. Water exists on Mars, though probably not in abundance in vapor or solid form. The temperature and atmospheric pressure on Mars are too low to support liquid water.

Exploring the surface of Mars since 1976, the rovers contained three very reliable experiments to detect signs of life. Two experiments did not show any signs of living organisms, the third experiment had weak but ambiguous data. Even the most optimistic seekers of extraterrestrial life agree that these slight positive signs were likely the result of inorganic chemical reactions in the soil. In addition to the terrible cold and the rarity of water, there are other obstacles to life on Mars today. For example, the thin Martian atmosphere does not provide protection from solar ultraviolet radiation, which is lethal to living things.

With these problems, interest in life on Mars has waned, although some hopes still hold and many think that life may have existed on Mars in the past.

Mars exploration

In recent years, the orbiter has detected methane in the Martian atmosphere. Methane is a gas often produced by living things, although it can also form inorganically. A gamma-ray spectrometer aboard the Mars Odyssey orbiter detected significant amounts of hydrogen in the upper surfaces, likely indicating an abundance of ice. The famous rovers Spirit and Opportunity have obtained strong evidence that liquid water existed on the surface of Mars. This last point is a confirmation of what we have known for decades: photographs from the orbiter showed numerous features that are best interpreted as having a lot of liquid water on Mars in the past. It is possible that the Red Planet once had a much more substantial atmosphere than it does now, an atmosphere that provided enough pressure and heat to support liquid water.

This holds exciting promise for the pessimists of life on other planets.

• First, scientists have concluded that Mars, a planet without liquid water, once experienced a near global flood, all the while denying that such a thing could happen on earth, a planet with abundant water.
• Second, many believe that the earth's atmosphere underwent a tremendous change during the Flood. It is believed that the Earth has experienced catastrophic changes in its atmosphere.

Please note that in the study of astrobiology, water indicators occupy a prominent place.

As the universal solvent, water is absolutely essential to life, making up the majority of the mass of many organisms. And water is one of the most abundant molecules in the universe. While water has been directly detected throughout the universe (even in the outer layers of cool stars!), we have never found liquid water anywhere in the universe. Liquid water is the main standard for living things, as it seems that life is impossible without it. However, although water is a necessary condition for life, it is far from being a sufficient condition for life - much more is required.

Jupiter exploration

A few years ago, the excitement in the scientific community was caused by the announcement of the possibility of a small ocean of liquid water under the surface of Europa, one of Jupiter's large moons. Most of the cases for this water depend on Europa's surface features - there are large segment fractures that resemble polar ice pack features that result from upwelling of frozen between fractures. Also, if the water were salty, this could explain Jupiter's moon's magnetic field. It has since been suggested that a similar argument was made on Ganymede, another large moon of Jupiter.

Many scientists are now looking at the possible underwater ocean on the Europa moon as the most likely place in the solar system to find life outside of our home. This ocean, if it exists, is very dark and probably very cold. A few decades ago, living organisms in such a place would have been unthinkable. However, scientists have found that organisms live in very hostile environments, such as hydrothermal vents deep in Earth's oceans. In addition, underground lakes exist far below the Antarctic ice sheet. The largest and most famous of them is Lake Vostok, located 4 kilometers under the ice. While we don't know if life exists in these lakes, many scientists want to know. They believe that if life could exist in these terrestrial lakes, why shouldn't life exist inside Jupiter's moon?

The search for life outside the solar system

Whether there is life on other planets outside the solar system has always worried humanity. Therefore, in our time, scientists, astronomers, astrobiologists are constantly looking for the presence of life on other celestial bodies. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, NASA) has specially developed an astronomical satellite designed to search for planets outside the solar system near other stars, on which the Kepler space telescope is located.

Space telescope "Kepler"

Kepler is an entire space observatory launched by NASA in 2009. The observatory is equipped with an ultrasensitive photometer capable of analyzing signals in the light region of the spectrum and transmitting data to Earth. Due to its high resolution, it is able to distinguish not only exoplanets, but also their satellites with a size of 0.2 the size of the Earth. During operation, there were several emergencies, but it still operates and transmits information. Introduced into a circular heliocentric orbit

A planet similar to Earth where extraterrestrial existence is possible in size is called Kepler 186f. Kepler's discovery 186f confirms that in the area under study there are stars with planets, in addition to our Sun, where life is possible on another planet.
While celestial bodies have previously been found in the habitable zone, they are all at least 40 percent larger than Earth, and life on larger planets is less likely. Kepler-186f is more like Earth.
"The discovery of Kepler 186f represents a significant step towards the search for worlds like our planet Earth," NASA astrophysicists said at the agency's headquarters in Washington. Although the size of Kepler-186f is known, its mass and composition have not yet been determined.

Now we know only one planet where life exists - the Earth.

When we search for life outside of our solar system, we focus on finding celestial bodies with characteristics that are similar to Earth. FROM whether life exists on another planet will, of course, be revealed in time.

• The planet Kepler-186f is located in the Kepler-186 system, about 500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.
• The system is also home to four planetary satellites that orbit a star that is half the size and mass of our Sun.
• The star is classified as an M dwarf or red dwarf, a class of stars that makes up 70% of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy. M dwarfs are the most numerous stars. Likely signs of life in the galaxy could also come from planets orbiting the M dwarf.
• Kepler-186f orbits its star every 130 days and receives one-third of the energy from its star that the Earth receives from the Sun, closer to the edges of the habitable zone.
• On the surface of Kepler-186f, the star's brightness matches that of when our Sun shines about an hour before sunset.

Being in the habitable zone does not mean that we know that this celestial body is habitable. The temperature on the planet is highly dependent on the atmosphere of the planet. Kepler-186f can be seen as Earth's cousin with many properties that resemble our planet rather than a twin.

This planet's four moons Kepler 186b, Kepler 186c, Kepler 186d, and Kepler-186e revolve around their sun every four, seven, 13, and 22 days, respectively, making them too hot for life.
The next steps to determine if there is life on other planets include measuring their chemical composition, determining atmospheric conditions, and humanity's continuing quest to find truly Earth-like worlds.

conclusions

For a long time, scientists believed that life on Earth first developed in warm, very hospitable pools and then colonized more difficult environments. Now many people think that life began on the outskirts, in very hostile places, and then migrated in the other direction to better places.

Much of the motivation for this complete reversal of thought stems from the need to find life on other planets. Scientists should welcome the search for extraterrestrial life, although many experiments will continue to give zero results, while refuting the evolutionary theory of origin.

NASA predicts that we will find life outside of our planet, and maybe even outside of our solar system, as early as this century. But where? What will this life be like? Would it be wise to make contact with aliens? The search for life will be difficult, but finding the answers to these questions in theory could be even longer. Here are ten points, one way or another related to the search for extraterrestrial life.

NASA believes that extraterrestrial life will be discovered within 20 years

Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, says:

“Imagine the moment when the world wakes up and the human race realizes that they are no longer alone in space and time. It is in our power to make a discovery that will change the world forever.”

Using ground and space technologies, NASA scientists predict that we will find extraterrestrial life in the Milky Way galaxy within the next 20 years. Launched in 2009, the Kepler space telescope has helped scientists find thousands of exoplanets (planets outside the solar system). Kepler detects a planet as it passes in front of its star, causing a slight dip in the star's brightness.

Based on the Kepler data, NASA scientists believe that 100 million planets in our galaxy alone could be home to extraterrestrial life. But it won't be until the James Webb Space Telescope goes live (scheduled for launch in 2018) that we'll have our first opportunity to indirectly detect life on other planets. The Webb Telescope will look for gases in planetary atmospheres generated by life. The ultimate goal is to find Earth 2.0, the twin of our own planet.

Extraterrestrial life may not be intelligent

The Webb telescope and its successors will look for biosignatures in the atmospheres of exoplanets, namely molecular water, oxygen and carbon dioxide. But even if the biosignatures are found, they won't tell us if life is intelligent on an exoplanet. Alien life may be represented by single-celled organisms like amoebas, rather than complex creatures that can communicate with us.

We are also limited in our search for life by our prejudice and lack of imagination. We assume that there must be carbon-based life like us, with a mind similar to ours. Explaining this disruption in creative thinking, Carolyn Porco of the Space Science Institute says, “Scientists don’t start thinking about completely crazy and incredible things until some circumstances force them to.”

Other scientists like Peter Ward believe that intelligent alien life will be short-lived. Ward admits that other species could endure global warming, overpopulation, starvation, and the ultimate chaos that will destroy civilization. The same thing awaits us, he believes.

At present, Mars is too cold for liquid water to exist and life to be sustained. But NASA's rovers Opportunity and Curiosity, which analyze the rocks of Mars, have shown that four billion years ago there was fresh water and mud on the planet in which life could flourish.

Another possible source of water and life is Arsia Mons, the third highest volcano on Mars. 210 million years ago, this volcano erupted under a huge glacier. The heat of the volcano caused the ice to melt, forming lakes in the glacier, like liquid bubbles in partially frozen ice cubes. These lakes may have existed long enough for microbial life to form in them.

It is possible that some of Earth's simplest organisms could survive on Mars today. Methanogens, for example, use hydrogen and carbon dioxide to produce methane and do not require oxygen, organic nutrients, or light. They are ways of surviving temperature extremes like those on Mars. So when scientists discovered methane in the atmosphere of Mars in 2004, they assumed that methanogens were already living below the surface of the planet.

When we go to Mars, we can pollute the planet's environment with microorganisms from Earth. This worries scientists as it could complicate the task of finding life forms on Mars.

NASA plans to launch a mission in the 2020s to Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. Among the primary goals of the mission is to determine whether the surface of the moon is habitable, as well as to determine the places where the spacecraft of the future will be able to land.

In addition to this, NASA plans to look for life (possibly intelligent) under the thick ice sheet of Europa. In an interview with The Guardian, NASA lead scientist Dr Ellen Stofan said: “We know that there is an ocean under this ice crust. Water foam emerges from cracks in the south polar region. There are orange stains all over the surface. What is it, after all?

The spacecraft that will go to Europa will make several flybys around the moon or stay in its orbit, perhaps studying foam plumes in the southern region. This will allow scientists to collect samples of Europa's interior without the risky and expensive spacecraft landing. But any mission must provide for the protection of the ship and its instruments from the radioactive environment. NASA also wants us not to pollute Europe with terrestrial organisms.

Until now, scientists have been technologically limited in their search for life outside our solar system. They could only look for exoplanets. But physicists at the University of Texas believe they have found a way to detect exomoons (moons orbiting exoplanets) via radio waves. This search method could greatly increase the number of potentially habitable bodies on which we can find extraterrestrial life.

Using knowledge of the radio waves emitted during the interaction between Jupiter's magnetic field and its moon Io, these scientists were able to extrapolate formulas to search for such emissions by exomoons. They also believe that Alfven waves (plasma ripples caused by the interaction between the planet's magnetic field and its moon) could also help detect exomoons.

In our solar system, moons like Europa and Enceladus have the potential to support life, depending on their distance from the Sun, atmosphere, and the possible existence of water. But as our telescopes become more powerful and farsighted, scientists hope to study similar moons in other systems.

There are currently two exoplanets with suitable habitable exomoons: Gliese 876b (about 15 light-years from Earth) and Epsilon Eridani b (about 11 light-years from Earth). Both planets are gas giants, like most of the exoplanets we have discovered, but are in potentially habitable zones. Any exomoons around such planets could also have the potential to support life.

Until now, scientists have looked for extraterrestrial life by looking for exoplanets rich in oxygen, carbon dioxide, or methane. But since the Webb telescope will be able to detect ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons, scientists suggest looking for intelligent extraterrestrial life in such “industrial” pollution.

While we hope to discover an extraterrestrial civilization that is still alive, it is likely that we will find an extinct culture that destroyed itself. Scientists believe that the best way to find out if there could be a civilization on the planet is to find long-lived pollutants (which stay in the atmosphere for tens of thousands of years) and short-lived pollutants (which disappear in ten years). If the Webb telescope detects only long-lived contaminants, there is a high chance that civilization has disappeared.

This method has its limitations. So far, the Webb telescope can only detect contaminants on exoplanets orbiting white dwarfs (the remnants of a dead star the size of our Sun). But dead stars mean dead civilizations, so the search for actively polluting life may be delayed until our technology becomes more advanced.

To determine which planets could support intelligent life, scientists typically base their computer models on the planet's atmosphere in a potentially habitable zone. Recent studies have shown that these models may also include the influence of large liquid oceans.

Let's take our own solar system as an example. Earth has a stable environment that supports life, but Mars - which sits on the outer edge of a potentially habitable zone - is a frozen planet. The temperature on the surface of Mars can fluctuate within 100 degrees Celsius. There is also Venus, which is within the habitable zone and unbearably hot. Neither planet is a good candidate for supporting intelligent life, although both could be inhabited by microorganisms capable of surviving extreme conditions.

Unlike Earth, neither Mars nor Venus has a liquid ocean. According to David Stevens of the University of East Anglia, “The oceans have enormous potential for climate control. They are useful because they allow surface temperatures to respond extremely slowly to seasonal changes in solar heating. And they help keep temperature changes around the planet within acceptable limits.”

Stevens is absolutely convinced that we need to include possible oceans in models of planets with potential life, thereby expanding the search range.

Oscillating exoplanets can support life where fixed-axis planets like Earth can't. This is because such "top worlds" have a different relationship with the planets around them.

The Earth and its planetary neighbors revolve around the Sun in the same plane. But the top worlds and their neighboring planets rotate at angles, influencing each other's orbits so that the former can sometimes rotate with the pole facing the star.

Such worlds are more likely than planets with a fixed axis to have liquid water on the surface. This is because the heat from the mother star will be evenly distributed over the surface of an unstable world, especially if it is facing the star at the pole. The planet's ice caps will melt quickly, forming the world's oceans, and where there is an ocean, there is potential life.

Most often, astronomers look for life on exoplanets that are within the habitable zone of their star. But some "eccentric" exoplanets stay in the habitable zone only part of the time. Being out of the zone, they can strongly melt or freeze.

Even under such conditions, these planets can support life. Scientists point out that some microscopic life forms on Earth can survive in extreme conditions - both on Earth and in space - bacteria, lichens and spores. This suggests that the star's habitable zone may extend much further than thought. Only we will have to come to terms with the fact that extraterrestrial life can not only flourish, as it does here on Earth, but also endure harsh conditions where it seemed that no life could exist.

NASA is taking an aggressive approach to searching for extraterrestrial life in our universe. The SETI Extraterrestrial Intelligence Project is also becoming more ambitious in its attempts to contact extraterrestrial civilizations. SETI wants to go beyond just looking for and tracking extraterrestrial signals and start actively sending messages into space to determine our position relative to the rest.

But contact with intelligent alien life could pose a danger that we may not be able to handle. Stephen Hawking warned that the dominant civilization is likely to use its power to subdue us. There is also an opinion that NASA and SETI are transgressing ethical boundaries. Neuropsychologist Gabriel de la Torre asks:

“Can such a decision be made by the entire planet? What happens if someone receives our signal? Are we ready for this form of communication?

De la Torre believes that the general public currently lacks the knowledge and training necessary to interact with intelligent aliens. The point of view of most people is also seriously influenced by religion.

The search for extraterrestrial life is not as easy as it seems

The technology we use to search for extraterrestrial life has improved a lot, but the search is still far from being as easy as we would like. For example, biosignatures are usually considered evidence of life, past or present. But scientists have found lifeless planets with lifeless moons that have the same biosignatures that we normally see signs of life. This means that our current methods for detecting life often fail.

In addition, the existence of life on other planets may be much more incredible than we thought. Red dwarf stars, which are smaller and cooler than our Sun, are the most common stars in our universe.

But, according to the latest information, exoplanets in the habitable zones of red dwarfs may have an atmosphere destroyed by severe weather conditions. These and many other problems significantly complicate the search for extraterrestrial life. But you really want to know if we are alone in the universe.

We do not (yet) have direct evidence that life exists on other planets, their satellites, and also in interstellar space. And yet, there are compelling and highly compelling reasons to believe that we will eventually find such life, perhaps even in our own solar system. Here are seven reasons why scientists believe that life exists somewhere and is just waiting to meet us. Maybe it won't be green-skinned ladies in flying saucers, but it will still be aliens.

1. Extremophiles on Earth

One of the main questions is whether life can exist and develop in worlds radically different from the earth. The answer to this question seems to be yes, when you consider that even on our planet there are extremophiles, or organisms that can survive in extreme conditions of heat, cold, exposure to poisonous (to us) chemicals, and even in a vacuum. We have found living creatures that live without oxygen at the very edge of hot volcanic vents on the ocean floor. We have found life in brackish waters high in the Andes, as well as in the subglacial lakes of the Arctic. There are even tiny organisms called tardigrades (Tardigrada) that can survive in the vacuum of space. So, we have direct evidence that life can quite successfully exist in a hostile environment on Earth. In other words, we know that life can survive under the conditions that we observe on other planets and their satellites. We just haven't found it yet.

2. Evidence of the presence of initial substances and prototypes of life on other planets and satellites

It is likely that life on Earth originated from chemical reactions that, over time, formed cell membranes and proto-DNA. But these primary chemical reactions may have started in the atmosphere and ocean with complex organic compounds such as nucleic acids, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. There is evidence that such "precursors of life" already exist on other worlds. They exist in the atmosphere of Titan, astronomers have noticed them in the rich environment of the Orion Nebula. Again, this does not mean that we have found life. However, we have found ingredients that, according to many scientists, contributed to the development of life on Earth. If such ingredients are distributed throughout the universe, then it is quite possible that life appeared in other places, and not just on our home planet.

3. The rapidly increasing number of Earth-like planets

Over the past decade, celestial body hunters have discovered hundreds of planets outside the solar system, many of which, like Jupiter, are gas giants. However, new methods of searching for planets have allowed them to find smaller, solid worlds such as Earth. Some of them are even in orbit around their stars in the so-called "habitable zone", that is, at such a distance that they experience temperatures close to Earth's. And given the huge number of planets outside the solar system, it is likely that on one of them there is some form of life.

4. The vast diversity and persistence of life on Earth

Life on Earth developed under exceptionally difficult conditions. Sometimes she managed to survive the most powerful volcanic eruptions, meteorite impacts, ice ages, droughts, ocean acidification and radical changes in the atmosphere. We are also seeing an incredible variety of life on our planet in a fairly short period of time - in geological terms. Life is also quite a persistent thing. Why shouldn't it originate and take root on one of Saturn's moons or in another star system?

5. Mysteries Surrounding the Origin of Life on Earth

Although we have theories about the origin of life on Earth, which involves the complex carbon molecules I mentioned earlier, it is ultimately a big mystery how such chemicals combined to form the fragile membranes that eventually became cells. And the more we learn about what an unfavorable environment existed on Earth when life was born and developed - an atmosphere filled with methane, boiling lava on the surface - the more mysterious the mystery of the origin of life becomes. There is one general theory that says that simple single-celled life actually originated somewhere else, maybe on Mars, and meteorites brought it to Earth. This is the pansermia theory, and it is based on the hypothesis that life on Earth arose due to life on other planets.

6 Oceans And Lakes Are Widespread, At Least In Our Solar System

Life on Earth originated in the ocean, and hence it follows that it could have appeared from water in other worlds. There is strong evidence that water once flowed freely and abundantly on Mars, and that Saturn's moon Titan has methane seas and rivers flowing across its surface. It is believed that Jupiter's moon Europa is one continuous ocean, warmed by the crust of this moon and completely covered with a thick protective layer of ice. In any of these worlds, life could once exist, and maybe it exists now.

7. Evolutionary theory

People often use the Fermi paradox as evidence that we will never find intelligent life in our universe. On the other side is evolutionary theory, which postulates that life adapts to its environment. Darwin and his contemporaries hardly thought about life on planets outside the solar system when they created their theory of evolution, but they also argued that where life can take root, it will certainly do so. And if you think that our environment is not only planets, but also other star systems, and interstellar space, then you can make an original assumption within the framework of the interpretation of evolutionary theory - that life will adapt to open space too. One day, we may meet creatures that have evolved in ways that are unimaginable to us. Or we ourselves can someday become such creatures.