Life in the Solar System – Part 2

Guest Speaker: Jonathan Park

Last month, in part 1 of “Life in the Solar System”, Jonathan explored the potential for life elsewhere in our Solar System. We looked at the building blocks of life, how life might get started, and Earth’s extremophiles. This was followed by a visit to Enceladus to see what it might have to offer in the way of habitability.

In Part 2, we first visit Europa and Titan, and have a look to see whether conditions on either of these moons might be suitable for any kind of life. Next, we head to Mars, where we examine evidence of rivers, lakes, and an ocean. We will see that life had just as much chance of getting started on Mars as it did on Earth, but if it did manage to get started on Mars, would there be any way it could have survived up to the present? Following this, we very briefly touch on some upcoming missions to Titan and the icy moons of Jupiter, finishing with a look at other possible oceans in our Solar System, which could number up to 14!

We look forward to seeing you all there.