Life in our solar system?

When people think of life on another world outside of Earth they think of planets. But how about a moon? Because the gas giant Jupiter has a lot moons and three of those moons I think might have life on them. Jupiter is a big planet and because of that it causes friction on its moons which causes them to heat up which is one requirement for life. Three of the moons I'm thinking about does have water on them and the three I'm talking about is Europa, Callisto, and, Ganymede. If I were a betting man I'll try Europa and Ganymede first because they are the likely targets. Europa might have deep sea thermal vents just like on Earth and I've read online and seen on TV about how scientists want to drill through the ice of Europa and send in a mini sub to explore Europa's vast seas. What do you all think?

 

Certainly sounds more worthwhile than studies that have been done on Mars.

 

It's a possibility, but I wouldn't expect anything much more sophisticated than some primitive microbial/bacterial life given the harsh conditions of the environment. I imagine there is very little sunlight that is able to reach down there, and that can play a big role in developing life (though it isn't necessarily required). I'd still be willing to dump a significant amount of funds into investigating though because SCIENCE.

 

Europa certainly could have water. And where there is water there is life. At least in Earth terms. Pretty cool stuff I wish I could grow old enough to see us exploring the Universe much like how Europeans explored the New World.

 

Life may not necessarily need sunlight, just look at the deep sea thermal vents discovered in 1977, Oceanographers were mapping the sea floor thinking that it would be underwater waste land but they found an abundance of life around the sea vents such as giant tub worms, giant clams, dandelion animals, shrimp, and other strange creatures.

 

As I noted, it's not necessarily a requirement.

 

I consider the possibility of life in our universe more than likely, however it is important to note that there is no conclusive or compelling evidence for this belief at this time. Also what I would classify as life would include microscopic organisms. But as the theory of abiogenesis and discovery of new life on Earth progresses our definitions and expectations of life are expanding... it is at least remotely possible for example that life could develop in hot, acidic, and dark environments without water... which might make Venus a possible candidate.

However the top possible candidates that I am aware of for having or had some kind of life is Mars, Europa, Enceladus, Titan, and Io... There have been many possible claims of non-Earth originated bacteria but none have held up against scientific scrutiny to date, and considering scientists are observing from a bacteria rich environment that can contaminate samples coupled with high hopes of finding bacteria of non-Earth origin it creates a strong bias... so any claims of non-Earth bacterial life being discovered should be discussed with great skepticism.

 

I'm not too into biology nor space stuff (I forgot the term), but I don't think it's likely that there's life in our solar system. The conditions for life seem too specific for it to exist in other planets in this solar system. I think the existence of at least single-celled organisms is likely out there if we don't limit it to our solar system, but I can't say anything about complex life like animals or plants.

 

I'm far from an expert in this field, but I've always had a suspicion that life is inevitable, given the presence of suitable ingredients. The only question, in my mind, is 'what kind of life?' There's a principle in chemistry I believe, claiming that all matter seeks (at the risk of personifying the inanimate ) to become more stable, and I can't think of a more stable form for matter to take than an actively self-regulating collection of functions, such as organic life. Then again, what do I know?

I can't really speak to the conditions on Jupiter's moons either, although, since some of them do have water, I'd be interested to see what sort of things start happening over there once the Sun starts burning Helium and getting a bit bigger. Maybe, if there's enough time, it'll develop complex life, like Earth's?