Amino-acids in Space

[Delphine]

Re our discussions on whether we are alone or not I have just found this news release on the Astronomy Now website:

".......Scientists have recently found new evidence that amino acids, the 'building-blocks' of life, can form not only in comets and asteroids, but also in the interstellar space. This result is consistent with (although of course does not prove) the theory that the main ingredients for life came from outer space, and therefore that chemical processes leading to life are likely to have occurred elsewhere......"

For the whole story see
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0205/31life/

Maybe we are all aliens!

[Mike]

The theory of life on earth being seeded from comets, asteroids or other objects slamming into the earth in its early stages have been around for a long time.

Of course, Amino Acids are not forms of life themselves, but just the building blocks for which other processes can start life formation.

Of course, if Amino Acids did come to earth from outside, the question has to be asked "Where did they come from ?". Does this mean that a planet covered in life exploded or was hit by a giant asteroid causing a piece to be blasted off into space ? Who knows !

The discovery of vast quantities of water ice underneath the surface of Mars is a very exciting discovery and of course opens the debate about whether there is microbial life present under the surface of Mars. This is still an open debate as the probes that have landed on MArs in the past and sampled the soil had woefully inadequate sensors and wouldn't have been able to detect a cow grazing right next to it.

Mars has a lot of conditions that would be suitable for certain lifeforms to survive and it is still possible, unlikely as it is, that there is microbial life present on Mars or was present in the past.

The discovery that the ice crust on Europa is a lot thicker than previouslt thought is of course a blow to the life on Europa Theory and could mean that sub-ice oceans do not exist. Personally I think that due to the conditions on neighbouring Io due to the great gravitational effects of Jupiter, I think that it highly unlikely that the ice on Europa won't be ice all the way down and that near the bottom of the ice it will be water, possibly with hydro thermal vents that could have lifeforms arounds them. Again, unlikely, but possible.

Only time will tell - A manned mission to Mars certainly looks like a more likely possibility in the not too distant future due to the recent findings anyway !! (I digress but it is nice to see that China is considering landing a man on the moon - about time we went back !!)

_________________
There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a suitable application of high explosives.

[ This Message was edited by: Mike on 2002-05-31 09:29 ]