edge
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Water on the moon, explains life?
Posted: Sep 24, 2009, 19:41:17
SPACE.com -- It's Official: Water Found on the Moon
Found this article, rather interesting.
For those of you who can't be bothered reading through the entire thing, then i'll sum it up!
Theres water on the moon, does this lead us to believe there could also be life up there?
Does anyone belive of life on other planets for that matter? Surely, theres a very high chance that there is.
Top 10 Amazing Moon Facts | LiveScience
Also theres a nice link to quite interesting facts that maybe even Stephen Fry didn't know about! :p Number 1 is most fascinating!
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XTR3M3
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Posted: Sep 25, 2009, 01:53:54
Many of the laws governing probability would suggest there at least has to be a chance there is life on other planets. I bet it will be few and far between though. Life on the moon? I would say probably no....not without an atmosphere....unless they found buried microbes or something....doubtful though.
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Xemnas
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Posted: Sep 25, 2009, 03:15:39
Anything reguard moon made out of cheese?
Though about Number 1: I doubt anyone really cares, Cause in 500 years top's, humans will cease to exist on earth.
Don't get me wrong, Numbah 1 IS quite fascinating, but i doubt no one is be able to witness it in 1,000 years from now.
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Milky
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Posted: Sep 25, 2009, 21:06:19
Let's hope it doesn't come down to that.
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Atrus
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Posted: Oct 8, 2009, 12:11:07
Good time to give this thread a bump given the LCROSS mission to the moon coming off tomorrow. NASA has a satellite that will fire a rocket at the moon's surface with the intent to create a large enough impact/explosion to throw up a six mile high plume of dust and debris. The satellite will then fly through the dust cloud looking for further evidence of water. The importance of this, however, is not any search for life, rather a verification of water on the moon would make it a workable stepping stone for a mission to Mars, and as a place where we could generate sufficient hydrogen energy to venture further out into space.
As for there being life on the moon, it is possible. Not life in any advanced form, but perhaps some microbial life has taken hold. In any case this mission will not verify that. Keep in mind that microbial life as we know it exists here on Earth in the perma frost of the poles, in the hotest steam vents, and in the deepest oceans - where there is no atmosphere. Gas is not the key to life, water is. And water is abundant in the Cosmos as one of nature's fundamental building blocks.
And yes, none of us will be around in 1,000 years. With any luck by then we will have found a way off this world having settlements on other worlds within our system. It is our nature to reach out, to explore, and no pun intended, to go where no man has gone before. This need to explore, to understand, for better or worse has taken mankind to where we are today.
Note that the impact will be covered by most of the cable news networks, check your local listings.
Here is a link for more info on the mission.
NASA's mission to bomb the Moon: Scientific American |
cpnichol
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Posted: Oct 9, 2009, 12:02:54
More on the water on the moon thing:
APOD: 2009 September 28 - Water Discovered on the Moon
I seriously doubt that there is life on the moon, but the presence of water is still significant for human space exploration as lugging water from Earth into orbit is extremely costly.
As for life elsewhere I just think there are way too many planets out there for there not be life somewhere else. We haven't even ruled out life elsewhere in our own solar system yet.
Liquid water and an energy source seem to be key to life as we know it, so there are a few places in our solar system that have or have had those. Mars used to have a thicker atmosphere and liquid water so it's possible life got going there. Even though it is now a much drier and barren planet we've seen on Earth that once life gets going it can live in some incredibly hostile places like in rocks miles underground, nuclear reactors, ice etc.
Europa, one of Jupiter's moons appears to be a frozen ball of ice but cracks in the surface suggest that underneath may be liquid water. If there is liquid water under the ice then there will be a heat source keeping it liquid too, liquid water plus and energy supply.
Titan is a bit more unlikely to harbor life, at least life as we know it. It has oceans, clouds and rain but it's a lot colder than Earth and the oceans are made out of hydrocarbons and it rains ethane. |
Goldie
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Posted: Oct 9, 2009, 23:17:15
Quote from XTR3M3: Many of the laws governing probability would suggest there at least has to be a chance there is life on other planets.
Not true.
From what we know, life will thrive on any planet with the right conditions, to which there are millions upon millions...... (over 100 billion stars in our galaxy and over a billion galaxies in the universe)
The question is, is there intelligent life, and are they more intelligent than us? Capable of travelling to us?
Probably the answer to that is if the life was created closer to the center of the universe, therefore having more time to evolve.
P.s I could go into this in more depth if I hadn't drunk 2 bottles of wine.
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Xemnas
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Posted: Oct 9, 2009, 23:53:57
I'm curious.
Why do we care that other life exist other then earth? Don't get me wrong here. It be awesome to find out if we did. But don't you think we should be searching something other then water? like freakin' prehistoric footprints something little more credible evidence other then water?
Cause having water really doesn't prove much other then it COULD have harbor life it's surface.
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Goldie
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Posts: 83
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Posted: Oct 11, 2009, 01:57:13
I'm curious.
Why do we care that other life exist other then earth? Don't get me wrong here. It be awesome to find out if we did. But don't you think we should be searching something other then water? like freakin' prehistoric footprints something little more credible evidence other then water?
Cause having water really doesn't prove much other then it COULD have harbor life it's surface.
All life (As we know it) Needs Water.
Thats why we are searching for Water..........
Quick Edit:
Life could possibly develop in Ammonia apparently.... But unlikely....
But yes all Carbon bassed life needs Water...
:cool1:
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reikalee
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Posts: 6
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Posted: Oct 11, 2009, 08:42:40
So I guess this also proves that aliens actually exist!
Anyway, there's no air on the moon that's why I'm still skeptical about the possibility of life.
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Atrus
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Posts: 259
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Posted: Oct 11, 2009, 13:50:07
oh my goodness, reikalee... if by "aliens" you mean intelligent life well, that's not what this conversation is about.
By way of example consider the diversity of life on our planet. In the Pacific Ocean, at depths of over 5,000 feet, there exists a diversity of life not known about until recently. There is no "air" or atmosphere, but there is oxygen in the water. Life exists on our planet in many areas, not all thriving on photosynthesis. In the ocean depths life formed and exists based on kemosynthesis. One example would be Riftia Pachyptila, or the giant Tube Worm that is found to live only around hydrothermal vents. These vents recirculate water from the ocean down into the earth and back up creating areas of warmth and an abundance of nutrients. As cpnichol pointed out there are several moons within our solar system where water/ice are in abundance, and where subsurface oceans may exists supporting similar life.
Air or atmosphere is NOT necessary for life. Water is important because life as we know it cannot exist without it. What we may also one day find is that other forms of life can exist without it, but for us here on Earth water is the key to life.
This is why science places so much significance of finding water. As well, water contains hydrogen a useful form energy that can be tapped on and used for space travel.
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XTR3M3
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Posted: Oct 11, 2009, 16:34:23
Have the results come back on their latest test for water? The one where they crashed the object into the south pole of the moon and then had a unit fly through the debris? That one is checking for water as well. As far as water proving life somewhere else....that is a big jump in faith. Water is essential for life as WE know it here. For you Darwinists and "Big Bangers" out there, the nearly incalculable numbers that make up the random probablility of life starting here can easily mean that it might have gone a completely different direction somewhere else. Life, according to scientists, started randomly then began in a more easily predictable manner. Carbon and water based lifeforms need water....who is to say that somewhere else life doesn't? There is also a possibility given the vastness of the numbers needed to calculate the probability of life starting even one place in the universe that our planet could be the only one.
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CookiEDo
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Posted: Oct 11, 2009, 19:00:08
Halo in the future anyone?
lol, pretty interesting article and to think an earth day will eventually become a month ? :D
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