Dec 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufm.u51a..04k&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #U51A-04
Other
0325 Evolution Of The Atmosphere, 5407 Atmospheres: Evolution, 5455 Origin And Evolution, 6207 Comparative Planetology
Scientific paper
Life as we know it, i.e., carbon-based organisms that rely on RNA and DNA for information storage and transfer, requires liquid water. Thus, the search for life elsewhere in the universe generally begins with a search for liquid water. In our own Solar System, Earth is the only planet (or moon) that has liquid water at its surface. Mars and Europa both probably have subsurface water. Researchers from NASA and elsewhere are hoping to eventually probe these subsurface reservoirs and determine whether life exists there. A more promising venue for finding extraterrestrial life is on Earth-like planets around other stars. Such planets can in principle be located and analyzed spectroscopically using large space-based telescopes like NASA's proposed Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) Mission (1). The chances of success for this mission depend critically on the abundance of Earth-like planets with liquid water at their surfaces because only there could a biota exist that would be widespread enough to modify the planet's atmosphere in a way that would be detectable. Models of planetary accretion suggest that most terrestrial planets should be endowed with substantial amounts of water (2). Climate models suggest that the "habitable zone" around solar-type stars is relatively wide so that water can remain liquid on a planet's surface for long times (3). Thus, the chances of finding water, and maybe life, elsewhere appear to be good. References: (1) Beichman, C. A., Woolf, N. J. and Lindensmith, C. A. The Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF): A NASA Origins Program to Search for Habitable Planets (JPL Publication 99-3) (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, 1999). (2) Morbidelli, A., Chambers, J., Lunine, J. I., Petit, J. M., Robert, F., Valsecchi, G. B. and Cyr, K. E. Meteoritics and Planet. Sci. 35, 1309-1320 (2000). (3) Kasting, J. F., Whitmire, D. P. and Reynolds, R. T. Icarus 101, 108-128 (1993).
No associations
LandOfFree
Extraterrestrial Water does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Extraterrestrial Water, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Extraterrestrial Water will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1892457