The hunt for life elsewhere within the Solar System: how have scientists searched for life in the Solar System in the past and how do they plan to do this in the future?
Over many decades, and for many years to come, scientists have tried and failed at searching for life elsewhere within the Solar System. The first sign of life in the Solar System was found in 1995 when Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz from the Geneva Observatory miraculously discovered the first planet orbiting a star. When looking for life in the Solar System there are three ingredients that are vital to indicate life: liquid water, gases (mainly oxygen) and an energy source. When discussing life in the solar system it is majorly important to determine the concept of ‘life’. Genta and Rycroft state “When speaking of life in the Universe, it is often specified as ‘life as we know it’, i.e. life as found on Earth. If we adopted a broader definition, would we recognise extraterrestrial life?” Despite all the efforts to find life elsewhere within the Solar System, giving an answer to the question: are we alone in the Universe is proving impossible. Moreover it is also important to theorise how life began. Was the formation of life on Earth due to chance or was it created due to an outstanding phenomenon? This essay will discuss how scientists have searched, over many decades, for life in the solar system and how future improved technology will hopefully, one day, find guaranteed results for life elsewhere.
“We must admit that in space there are other globes, other races of men and animals” (Lucretius, 1977). Over two thousand years ago Titus Lucretius Carus was certain there was life elsewhere in the Solar System and he was not the only person to assume this. Many scientists and philosophers around this time, and even present day scientists and philosophers, would have agreed with his statement. Roughly one and a half thousand years later, Galileo found spots on the Sun plus he...