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5. Is there life in the universe? Presentation by SL

6. Content • The Study of Astrobiology • Habitable Zones • Drake’s Equation • Current Research

7. The Study of AstroBiology No-not ‘Alien hunting’

8. What is Astrobiology? • Astrobiology: the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe • Includes searching for habitable environments in our Solar System, and planets outside of it, evidence of prebiotic chemistry and life on Mars, laboratory and field research into the origins and early evolution of life on Earth, and studies of the potential for life to adapt to challenges on Earth and in space • NASA has a program that was founded in 1996,but previously had studies in exobiology • Exobiology: The branch of science that deals with the possibility and likely nature of life on other planets or in space

9. What are we looking for? • Life: that which distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death • Alien life- does NOT mean humanoid • There are several conditions that make a planet ‘habitable’: • Temperature • Water • Atmosphere • Energy • Nutrients • These signs are critical when distinguishing the likelihood of alien life

11. Our Solar Systems Habitable Zone Habitable zone: the distance/range of distances from a star from which an orbiting planet can have liquid water on its surface. These distances may vary depending on the extent of the star’s size, mass and luminosity.

12. Drake’s Equation Probability of sentient life

13. Drake’s Equation • Frank Drake of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, West Virginia undertakes the first attempt to find extraterrestrial civilizations in 1960 • Project Ozma had him listening for radio signals of intelligent life, for a period of 6 hours a day for four months,usingthe NRAO radio telescope-unsuccessfully • Within a year Green Bank hosts a meeting to explore the issue of extraterrestrial intelligence • Frank Drake is meant to come up with an agenda for the meeting-and thus devises the Drake Equation.

14. Drake’s Equation This equation is used to give the probability of intelligent life forms within the universe.

15. N = The number of broadcasting civilizations. • R = Average rate of formation of suitable stars (stars/year) in the Milky Way galaxy • fp = Fraction of stars that form planets • ne = Average number of habitable planets per star • fl = Fraction of habitable planets (ne) where life emerges • fi = Fraction of habitable planets with life where intelligent evolves • fc = Fraction of planets with intelligent life capable of interstellar communication • L = Years a civilization remains detectable Letter Meanings

16. THE ANSWER IS: WE DON’T KNOW! • Well- we think 500 to 10,000 civilizations

17. Current Research We’ve got a good track record…right?

18. Microbes in Arctic ice sheets have been helping researchers pinpoint evidence for similar microorganisms that could have evolved on Mars, the Jovian moon Europa, or Saturn’s moon Enceladus • With support from the NASA ASTEP program, a team of scientists recently investigated the western edge of the Greenland ice sheet in order to study the release of methane as the ice sheet recedes • Careful isotopic analysis are helping them determine if the methane comes directly or indirectly from methanogenicmicrobes

19. European countries have also combined scientific and financial resources to form the 18-nation European Space Agency (ESA), which has some collaborative initiatives with NASA focused on astrobiology • In 2016, they expect to launch the NASA/ESA ExoMars/Trace Gas Orbiter (EMTGO) mission, part of the ExoMars Rover Project. • The objective is to characterize the chemical composition of the Martian atmosphere, particularly trace species • Scientists are developing newer, better technology for research that involves cheap, compact, rugged instruments that can survive and function in unearth-like environments ,along with utilizing solar energy • The next generation of Mars rovers will likely use mass spectrometers to search for signs of life • Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) developed total ion control (TIC), the method makes it easier to direct ions along specified paths. • Current systems require airflow maintained by heavy, energy-gobbling pumps.

20. More Research! • Researchers at Harvard and MIT have initiated a project to study whether life on Earth might have descended from Martian organisms carried here by flying objects like meteors, called Search for Extraterrestrial Genomes (SETG) • As an example of the adaptability of microbial organisms, the team pointed to the discovery of the first known organism that can thrive and reproduce using arsenic instead of phosphorus in its cells. • December 2011, a NASA team isolated the bacteria from Mono Lake, CA, chosen because of its high salinity, alkalinity, and arsenic levels. • The NASA investigators said their data showed evidence for arsenate in macromolecules that normally contain phosphate, “most notably nucleic acids and proteins.”

21. So- what do you think? Should we be spending time on astrobiology?

22. Picture Links: • http://www.dailycollage.com/2004/09/11/alien-vs-predator/ http://www.veronicabelmont.com/tag/star-trek/ • http://www.legitreviews.com/article/628/1/ • http://www.jokeroo.com/pictures/other/milky-way-galaxy.html • http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7972538/Are-we-living-in-a-designer-universe.html • http://www.genengnews.com/insight-and-intelligenceand153/biotechnology-instruments-being-used-to-detect-alien-life/77899415/ • http://leilabattison.wordpress.com/2010/08/20/intelligent-life-apply-elsewhere/ • http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24793/ • http://worldofweirdthings.com/2010/09/27/why-youre-most-probably-not-part-alien/ • http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/online/3384/qa-with-frank-drake

23. Bibliography • Ford, Steve. "What Is The Drake Equation?" What Is The Drake Equation? SETI League. Web. 30 May 2012. http://www.setileague.org/general/drake.htm • Habitable Zones Planets in the Solar System. Planet Facts. Web. 31 May 2012. <http://planetfacts.org/habitable-zone. • Plaxco, Jim. "The Drake Equation." Astronomical Adventures. N.p., 2007. Web. 30 May 2012. http://www.astrodigital.org/astronomy/drake_equation.html. • "What Makes a World Habitable?" Www.lpi.usra.edu. Web. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/explore/our_place/hab_ref_table.pdf • Voytek, Mary May. "Astrobiology." Astrobiology: Life in the Universe. NASA, 29 May 2012. Web. 30 May 2012. <http://astrobiology.nasa.gov>. • Dimond, Patricia F. "Biotechnology Instruments Being Used to Detect Alien Life." GEN. Gentetic Engineering and Biotechnology News, 7 June 2007. Web. 30 May 2012. <http://www.genengnews.com/insight-and intelligenceand153/biotechnology-instruments-being-used-to-detect-alien-life/77899415/>.