A space agency scientist explained the details of NASA's efforts to answer the question whether we are alone in the universe or not. It was recorded in a video which went viral after being uploaded to YouTube and gathering millions of views.
NASA's Quest for Alien Life
NASA astrobiologist Heather Graham from the Goddard Space Flight Center describes the actions taken by the agency in its search for alien life. The video itself is hosted by Australian YouTuber AstroKobi, also known as Kobi Brown.
In this viral video, the YouTube host explains that the NASA astrobiology program works to answer three fundamental questions about the beginning and evolution of life, the existence of life elsewhere in the universe, and best method to search for alien life.
According to Graham, experts must first understand the meaning of life before considering those questions. She claims that when NASA considers the beginning of life, it also needs to ponder about how any life could begin. As explained by Brown, life does not just refer to creatures like humans but instead include a wide variety of organisms.
Graham also pointed out in the viral video that the extensive search by NASA is narrowed down by facts such as the importance of water for all life, star as energy source, and the kind of environment that promotes the formation of life.
Small Lifeforms in Different Heavenly Bodies
In their search across the vast space, NASA mainly focuses on microscopic life forms in the Solar System. Although this is very different from the common view about alien life shown in television programs, discovering microbes on another planet is already a great feat in astronomy, according to Graham. Based on the history of our own planet, it makes sense to hunt for microorganism as a form of alien life.
Intense searches for microbial life are currently conducted in Mars using Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. They explore the regions of the red planet which were abundantly filled with water billions of years ago. Experts hope to find traces of ancient microscopic life in Martian rocks. NASA also works with the European Space Agency (ESA) in planning a sample return mission where geological specimens returned to Earth will give clues about signs of life in Mars.
Collecting samples for study purposes is not limited to Mars. NASA is currently preparing for the return of OSIRIS-Rex, another sample return mission that collected samples from a small near-Earth asteroid named Bennu. Understanding samples from asteroids provides another insight about the beginning of life since they are believed to have been made from the same material that also makes the planets.
The space agency also shows particular interest in the moons that orbit the other planets in the Solar System. It is now targeting search missions in Enceladus and Europa, the moons of Saturn Jupiter, respectively.
The potential of James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is also utilized by NASA in its hunt for signs of life beyond the Solar System. Since the grand telescope has the ability to recognize biosignatures around exoplanets, it means that the atmosphere of these worlds contain something that use the energy in such environment.
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