Looking to the starry sky beyond the earth has been a dream of mankind since ancient times. It’s just that in ancient times, due to the lack of scientific knowledge, people basically didn’t know much about the starry sky beyond the earth. Many people attributed the world beyond the earth to the fairy realm or the god realm of myths and legends.
With the rapid development of human civilization, we entered the age of science and technology hundreds of years ago. With the help of science and technology, we understand that beyond the earth is not a fairy world, a god world, but a vast universe. The dream of going out of the earth was soon realized. On October 4, 1657, the first man-made satellite broke through the bondage of the atmosphere and entered space, which opened the prelude to mankind’s exploration of the universe.
Only when we truly walk out of the earth can we know the vastness of the universe and the smallness of the earth. After mankind opened the prelude to exploring the universe, many probes continued to leave the earth to explore the directions of various solar systems. Some people may not understand: Why do we spend huge amounts of money and resources to explore other planets? Wouldn’t it be better to apply all these money and resources to the earth?
If you have this kind of cognition, then it is too narrow. Human beings spend huge money and resources to explore the universe just for the future of mankind to go further and continue forever. Why? I believe many friends understand that the earth’s resources are not unlimited, but limited non-renewable resources.
The earth took billions of years to evolve, creating a world of life rich in resources. Before the birth of mankind, these resources were basically sealed and waiting for the birth of mankind. After the birth of human beings and the formation of civilization, we began to apply these resources step by step, especially after human beings entered the era of science and technology, the rapid development of science and technology requires a lot of resource support.
The more powerful the science and technology, the greater the demand for resources. If only the resources of the earth are used, the rapid development of human civilization cannot be satisfied at all. Once the earth’s resources are exhausted and we have no other way to obtain resources, then what is waiting for mankind will be the end of destruction.
The resources of the earth are very limited, but the resources of the universe are infinite. As long as the scientific and technological strength is strong enough, the resources of the entire galaxy and the entire universe can be used by us. In addition, while technology has brought human civilization to a leap, it is also continuously destroying the earth’s ecological environment, which is a huge side effect of industrial development.
We can imagine that in the near future, the earth may no longer be suitable for human survival. At that time, if we want to survive, we need to go to other planets. An important task of exploring the universe is to find the second home and the third home of human beings.
In addition to these factors related to the fate of human life in the future, we also have a major goal in exploring the universe, which is to find extraterrestrial life. From the perspective of the universe, the probability of existence of extraterrestrial life is basically 100%, and before extraterrestrial life is truly found, things about extraterrestrial life can only be some guesses.
Whether there are other life in the universe has a great influence on the future cosmology and development direction of mankind. Since humans’ current scientific and technological strength is still very limited, we have not yet the ability to go out of the solar system to explore, so we can only focus on the solar system to see what the various planets in the solar system look like, is there a second home suitable for human survival? Is there any extraterrestrial life?
Through more than half a century of continuous exploration and research, scientists have discovered three most likely planets for life in the solar system, one of which is the planet Mars, and the other two are planetary satellites. They are Titan and Io. two.
These two moons respectively revolve around Saturn and Jupiter. Don’t think they are just small moons, but they are very unusual. The possibility of life is even higher than that of Mars. Why do scientists think that the possibility of life on these two satellites is very high? It is mainly related to their environment, let’s carry out some simple analysis one by one.
Titan, also known as Titan, is the largest satellite orbiting Saturn and the second largest satellite of the solar system. Scientists speculate that the possibility of life is very high because it is the only satellite in the solar system that has a thick atmosphere, and it also has oceans and lakes.
I believe my friends should understand the importance of the atmosphere to the birth of life. We often talk about ecological planets. What is an ecological planet? It is the surface environment of the planet under the atmosphere. The atmosphere is equivalent to the protection of a planet. With the atmosphere, the evolution of the planet’s surface can be better developed, and at the same time, it can effectively block all kinds of radiation from the universe.
The role of the atmosphere is too important for a planet, and its thickness is directly related to the quality of the planet’s ecological environment. The earth has a thick atmosphere that can form a beautiful ecosystem and give birth to life. If it is a planet without an atmosphere, such as the moon, whose surface environment is in direct contact with space, it is difficult to form a unique ecosystem, and it is unlikely that life will be born.
Titan’s atmosphere is relatively thick. In addition to the thick atmosphere, a unique ecosystem has naturally formed, as well as the existence of oceans and lakes. It’s just that the material that makes up the ocean is not water, but methane. The reason is that the main components of Titan’s atmosphere are gases such as methane. In a low temperature environment, they solidify and fall on the surface in the form of rainfall, forming oceans and lakes.
Although Titan’s oceans and lakes are composed of methane, thunderstorms and rainfall are formed due to the existence of the atmosphere and ecosystems, which can promote the transformation of inorganic matter into organic matter and give birth to the earliest life structures. Scientists have discovered through continuous research on life on earth that life’s ability to adapt to the environment is very powerful.
In different environments, life can evolve different evolution strategies and directions. Alien life does not necessarily need the same ecological conditions as the earth. Even planets with very different environments can give birth to their own unique life as long as the conditions are right.
Europa is the fourth largest moon orbiting Jupiter. It also has a thin atmosphere. It is a mild world with a thick layer of ice covering its surface, up to 100 kilometers thick. According to the initial detection of the detector, its interior may still be a hot core, which can provide heat. Therefore, scientists believe that there may be a liquid ocean under its thick ice.
Based on the materials discovered by the probe on Europa’s surface, scientists speculate that there may be life in the ocean world inside it. If there is life here, then the life forms may be somewhat different from the life in the earth’s oceans, and of course there may be many similarities. After all, they are life that also originated in the water.
Exploring the secrets of the various planets in the solar system is our first step towards the stars. With the continuous development of human technology, we will inevitably go out of the solar system and into interstellar space in the future. At that time, we will discover more interesting galaxies and planets, and the existence of alien life will no longer be a mystery. Only by stepping out of the solar system, we have more hope to find a natural home suitable for human survival.