Looking for Life, Searching the Solar System

by Paul Clancy , André Brack , Gerda Horneck

• ISBN13: 9780521824507
• ISBN10: 0521824508
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-07-04
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

How did life begin on Earth? Is it confined to our planet? Will humans one day be able to travel long distances in space in search of other life forms? Written by three experts in the space arena, Looking for Life, Searching the Solar System aims to answer these and other intriguing questions. Beginning with what we understand of life on Earth, it describes the latest ideas about the chemical basis of life as we know it, and how they are influencing strategies to search for life elsewhere. It considers the ability of life, from microbes to humans, to survive in space, on the surface of other planets, and be transported from one planet to another. It looks at the latest plans for missions to search for life in the Solar System, and how these are being influenced by new technologies, and current thinking about life on Earth.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Part I The imperative of exploration	1	(28)
1 Exploration as metaphor	3	(26)
Part II How can we know life and its origin?	29	(108)
Introduction	31	(160)
2 The molecular basis of life on Earth	33	(29)
3 The limits to life (water and extreme conditions)	62	(17)
4 The transfer of life between planets	79	(34)
5 What are the signatures of life?	113	(14)
6 After the discovery/life as a cosmic phenomenon	127	(10)
Part III Life in the search for life beyond the Earth	137	(54)
7 The prospects for long-duration human spaceflight and human survival on planetary surfaces	139	(28)
8 Human exploration and the search for life	167	(13)
9 Interplanetary ethics	180	(11)
Part IV The cosmic biological imperative	191	(94)
10 The key technologies for human planetary exploration	193	(27)
11 Exploration in space	220	(40)
12 Exploration in time	260	(14)
13 Prediction, imagination and the role of technology	274	(11)
Part V Our cosmic destiny	285	(9)
14 Our cosmic destiny	287	(7)
Appendices	294	(41)
1 Bibliography	294	(19)
2 Properties of water conducive to biology	313	(2)
3 Why life may favour one-handedness	315	(1)
4 RNA analogues and surrogates in prebiotic chemistry	316	(2)
5 Analysis techniques and technology for the detection of traces of extant or extinct life	318	(8)
6 The Rocket Equation	326	(2)
7 Instrumentation	328	(3)
8 Terraforming Mars	331	(2)
9 Launch costs	333	(2)
Index	335