Astronomy essay

The environment must be conducive for life to exist, including the temperatures, the air that may be breathed, and other elements. Unlike other planets, Earth has excellent circumstances for life. The amino acids, which are made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, are necessary for life to survive. However, the two essential elements for life are carbon and water. The characteristics listed above are necessary for the existence of humans and other living things. Astrobiologists check for the presence of carbon and water when determining whether there is a chance that life exists on other worlds. According to Geologists, plate tectonics is also essential for life existence because they are the grand recycling system of the planet.

2. What might life on other planets look like?

Life on other planets is just imaginable. Different people have different imaginations on how life looks like on other planets such as Mars or Jupiter. According to NASA, Mars looks like a dusty desert. It is believed that life might exist underneath on Mars. This is because it is believed that there are favorable conditions below the surface (liquid water). However, compared to the past, the present circumstances on Mars are too dry to support life.

In Saturn's largest moon, Titan, there are similar features to earth for instance weather circles and volcanism. Also, it has rivers, rainfall, and other sophisticated features. On the other hand, Jupiter’s moon Europa has liquid lakes comprising of ethane-methane where it is believed that life might exist. Despite the extreme environmental conditions, it was found out that certain organisms might thrive in extreme temperature and uses methane to produce energy.

3. Regarding things discussed in the video you watched, how do we know what we know about space? Explain and give examples.

As technology advances, the world leading Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have developed space craft’s that have been sent to other planets for exploration since early 1960’s. For example, in 2006, NASA launched Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that was sent to the mars to explore the planet. The spacecraft was equipped with cameras which recorded images of the planet. This is how the astrobiologists and the entire world knew what they know now after analyzing the pictures and getting interpretations. Additionally, in 2003 the Galileo of NASA was launched to one of the Jupiter’s moon, Europa to record pictures and explore the moon to find out if there is support for life. On 4th Aug 2007, phoenix mars launcher spacecraft was launched by NASA to Mars to dig deep into the ground to find out if there existed the building blocks of life.

4. What’s in store for the future of space exploration?

With the current technology, NASA is planning to explore new planets in the universe. Astrobiologists believe that there exist other millions of Earth-like planets in the Milky Way galaxy which have not yet been discovered. In the coming years, NASA is planning to launch the terrestrial planet finder, a collection of highly sensitive space telescopes aimed to search for other planets. The telescopes will be in a position to recognize if the planets have the right atmospheric gases, for instance, water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and the ozone properties that are necessary to sustain life like earth.