The opportunity to discover environments where life could thrive has significantly increased, thanks to a new finding about exoplanets. A recent discovery by scientists at Rutgers University suggests that liquid water is likely to exist on exoplanets, even if they have icy outer layers.
Illustration of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft flying above the icy moon Europa of Jupiter.
(Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech).
Liquid water is one of the essential components for life on Earth. Therefore, this discovery is seen as good news for humanity’s quest to find extraterrestrial life, which has spanned centuries.
Icy Shells and Liquid Water
To arrive at this discovery, a team of researchers led by Dr. Lujendra Ojha studied planets found around the most common type of star in our galaxy, red dwarfs (also known as M dwarfs).
Red dwarfs are smaller and cooler than the Sun. Consequently, planets in this star system are primarily composed of rocky material similar to Earth and are covered by icy outer shells.
In fact, something similar happened on Earth about a couple of billion years ago when the water on the surface entirely froze. However, beneath the surface, a large amount of liquid water was still maintained.
“Heat from deep within the planet can warm the water enough to keep it in a liquid state,” explained Lujendra Ojha.
The researcher also suggested that there is evidence indicating that this warming process may also be taking place near the south pole of Mars. Additionally, some moons, such as Europa (a moon of Jupiter) or Enceladus (a moon of Saturn), may have liquid water beneath their icy surfaces.
Will Humans Soon Discover Extraterrestrial Life?
One of the most feasible methods for identifying the existence of extraterrestrial life is to search for any signs of life beyond Earth.
Extraterrestrial life will depend on the presence of water in a given location (Image: Getty).
To this day, this is the most common approach in astronomy, targeting planets and star systems far away.
Within the limits of current technology, humans can search for chemicals that make up life in atmospheres, analyze geological structures, or transmit electromagnetic waves or optical signals for communication purposes instead of language.
According to the new model proposed by the researchers, approximately one out of every 100 stars may have an Earth-like rocky planet with existing liquid water. Given that there are about 100 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy, if we follow this ratio, we can be incredibly optimistic about the possibility of life emerging somewhere.
The calculations indicate that, under suitable conditions, the likelihood of finding liquid water has increased a hundredfold compared to what we once knew.
“This type of water can be found in places we haven’t thoroughly examined,” said Lujendra Ojha. “In theory, this significantly enhances the chances of finding environments where life could develop.”
Nevertheless, all the efforts to search for extraterrestrial life beyond Earth have not yet been successful.