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15 - Introduction to the limits of organic life in planetary systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2010

Mark A. Bedau  and
Carol E. Cleland
By
Mark A. Bedau
Affiliation:
Reed College, Oregon
Carol E. Cleland
Affiliation:
University of Colorado, Boulder
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Summary

THE SEARCH FOR LIFE IN THE COSMOS

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has long given high priority to missions that ask whether extraterrestrial life might exist in the solar system and beyond. That priority reflects public interest, which was enhanced in the mid 1990s when fragments of Mars delivered to Earth as meteorites were shown to contain small structures reminiscent of microbial life.

The proper interpretation of those structures remains controversial, but it is certain that nothing would alter our view of humanity and our position in the cosmos more than the discovery of alien life. Nothing would contribute more to NASA's goal of exploring the cosmos, or to inspiring and educating the next generation of students in the hard sciences and engineering, than a search for alien life. Nothing would be more unfortunate than to expend considerable resources in the search for alien life and then not recognize it if it is encountered.

The search for life in the cosmos begins with our understanding of life on Earth. This understanding has grown enormously over the past century. It is now clear that, although terran life is conveniently categorized into millions of species, studies of the molecular structure of the biosphere show that all organisms that have been examined have a common ancestry. There is no reason to believe, or even to suspect, that life arose on Earth more than once, or that it had biomolecular structures that differed greatly from those shared by the terran life that we know.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Nature of Life
Classical and Contemporary Perspectives from Philosophy and Science
 , pp. 210 - 216
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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