Origin and Evolution of Life on Terrestrial Planets
Journal article, 2010
The ultimate goal of terrestrial planet-finding missions is not only to discover terrestrial exoplanets inside the habitable zone (HZ) of their host stars but also to address the major question as to whether life may have evolved on a habitable Earth-like exoplanet outside our Solar System. We note that the chemical evolution that finally led to the origin of life on Earth must be studied if we hope to understand the principles of how life might evolve on other terrestrial planets in the Universe. This is not just an anthropocentric point of view: the basic ingredients of terrestrial life, that is, reduced carbon-based molecules and liquid H2O, have very specific properties. We discuss the origin of life from the chemical evolution of its precursors to the earliest life-forms and the biological implications of the stellar radiation and energetic particle environments. Likewise, the study of the biological evolution that has generated the various life-forms on Earth provides clues toward the understanding of the interconnectedness of life with its environment.
hydrothermal vents
bacteria
amino-acids
ultraviolet-radiation
Astrobiology
earth-like planets
galactic habitable zone
sediments
Radiation
permafrost
biosphere
stars
Organic molecules
Origin of life
Author
A. Brack
CBM Centre de Biophysique Moleculaire
G. Horneck
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
C. S. Cockell
Open University
A. Berces
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
N. K. Belisheva
Russian Academy of Sciences
C. Eiroa
Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (UAM)
T. Henning
Max Planck Society
T. Herbst
Max Planck Society
L. Kaltenegger
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
A. Leger
University of Paris-Sud
René Liseau
Chalmers, Department of Radio and Space Science, Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics
H. Lammer
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
F. Selsis
University of Bordeaux
C. Beichman
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
W. Danchi
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
M. Fridlund
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
J. Lunine
University of Arizona
F. Paresce
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
A. Penny
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
A. Quirrenbach
Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
H. Rottgering
Leiden University
J. Schneider
Observatoire de Paris-Meudon
D. Stam
Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)
G. Tinetti
University College London (UCL)
G. J. White
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Open University
Astrobiology
1531-1074 (ISSN)
Vol. 10 1 69-76Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Roots
Basic sciences
DOI
10.1089/ast.2009.0374