Posted on 09/25/2020 11:02:36 AM PDT by LibWhacker
In July, three unmanned missions blasted off to Mars from China (Tianwen-1), the US (Nasas Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover) and the United Arab Emirates (Hope). The Chinese and American missions have lander craft that will seek signs of current or past life on Mars. Nasa is also planning to send its Europa Clipper probe to survey Jupiters moon Europa, and the robotic lander Dragonfly to Saturns moon Titan. Both moons are widely thought to be promising hunting grounds for life in our solar system as are the underground oceans of Saturns icy moon Enceladus.
Meanwhile, we can now glimpse the chemical makeup of atmospheres of planets that orbit other stars (exoplanets), of which more than 4,000 are now known. Some hope these studies might disclose possible signatures of life.
But can any of these searches do their job properly unless we have a clear idea of what life is? Nasas unofficial working definition is a self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution. Nasa needs a definition of life so it knows how to build detectors and what kinds of instruments to use on its missions, says zoologist Arik Kershenbaum of the University of Cambridge. But not everyone thinks it is using the right one.
Astrobiologist Lynn Rothschild of Nasas Ames research centre in California sees a cautionary tale in AA Milnes story from Winnie-the-Pooh, in which Pooh and Piglet hunt a Woozle without knowing what it looks like and mistake their own footprints for its tracks. You cant hunt for something if you have no idea what it is, she says.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Thanks BenLurkin. They may not ask.
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I figure that if there are aliens I’m not too worried. Since God created everything, He created them, too, and they’re not aliens to Him. He’s got it all worked out.
She looks a lot like my cousins and aunts on my father’s side. They were half Cherokee and beautiful.
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