Humans are obsessed with aliens. E.T., Alien, Predator, Alien vs. Predator… whatever Natasha Henstridge was in Species.
If our artistic explorations are any indication, we have three distinct ideas/hopes/fears about extraterrestrial life.
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We think they might be friendly and lovable.
We fear they might be hostile and hunt us/use us to incubate their young.
And finally, we hope they’re supermodel quality blondes who may breed and exterminate us, but we’re strangely fine with that.
Ultimately, we’re probably wrong on all accounts, but at least we’re thinking creatively.
The fine folks over at NASA have unveiled some HUGE news this week regarding the possibility of locating alien life right here in our very own solar system, and it’s pretty exciting.
NASA announced that they’ve discovered a type of chemical energy that life is able to feed seems to exist on Saturn’s moon Enceladus and possibly even Jupiter’s moon Europa.
Now I know what you’re thinking. “Geez. Big deal. They found space stuff in space. Whoop-de-doo.”
First off… isn’t it weird that “whoop-de-doo” is spelled like that?
And secondly, It really is a big deal because NASA has never discovered habitable areas with this much potential before. Certainly not in our own solar system, at least.
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at Headquarters in Washington, said of the discovery, “This is the closest we’ve come, so far, to identifying a place with some of the ingredients needed for a habitable environment. These results demonstrate the interconnected nature of NASA’s science missions that are getting us closer to answering whether we are indeed alone or not.”
So here’s how it breaks down…
This new info indicates hydrogen gas, which can possibly provide a life-giving chemical energy source, is flowing into the subsurface ocean of Enceladus from hydrothermal activity on the floor of the sea.
The existence of ample hydrogen in the moon’s ocean suggests that microbes – if there are any there – could utilize it to acquire energy by combining the hydrogen with carbon dioxide dissolved in the H2O.
This chemical reaction is known as “methanogenesis.” It fabricates methane as a byproduct, and it is at the root of the tree of life on Earth. It might possibly have been crucial to the origin of life here.
All of that is a big deal because knowing where life “could” exist can tell us where life might have existed in the past, or it could give us a timeline on how long it is before new life could emerge again.
The most important thing, however, is finding out how long we have to wait for the Natasha Henstridge aliens to show up. Get on that NASA.
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[H/T: BroBible]
