If you are not living under a rock (and even if you are), you've probably heard that late Monday afternoon NASA issued a press release stating: "NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe." (http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_M10-167_Astrobiology.html) This of course, has led to lots and lots of speculation and wondering - what's going on?
Well, finally tomorrow is the day! We get to at last learn about The Discovery. I've wondered and thought. I looked up the panel of scientists and their backgrounds (a very interesting group of individuals). After much time pondering, I now have some guesses as to what this will be and what it won't be. Now to find out how close my guesses are. I'm hoping to tune in via the internet and watch live (http://www.nasa.gov/ntv). You can also watch live on NASA TV or hear/read about it later.
First - what it won't be: I don't think this will be an announcement about extraterrestrial life being discovered - even primitive bacterial life. No real reason why (although it would be awesome if it was), it's just a gut feeling I have. I also think whatever it is those who are into science will find it interesting, but I fear the general public following the hype might be a bit let down by the big reveal. I hope not, but there's just so much buzz...
So what might it be. Here are the ideas I thought of:
1) NASA has a huge earth science division, so maybe it is about life right here on Earth. This is my favored guess since it looks like every panelist scientist has an earth science connection. Maybe it's a new type of extremophile. Maybe a new idea on the conditions needed for life or a new way life might have originated on Earth. This area of study is so odd it is always fun and intriguing. Dr. Felisa Wolfe-Simon is a geobiologist that studies extreme environments on Earth, specifically she's closely researched the extreme arsenic environment of California's Mono Lake. Dr James Elser is an ecologist working for NASA's astrobiology team; he studies 'the balance of energy and multiple chemical elements in living systems' according to his website.
2) There are many missions active in our solar system (Cassini at Saturn; Mars Program; recent EPOXI mission encounter with comet Hartley). Maybe an interesting atmosphere was found (recent news from Cassini that Rhea has a very thin atmosphere that contains CO2 and O2 is fascinating) or organic molecules are present (they are building blocks to life - finding them anywhere beyond Earth is very noteworthy). That would be exciting! Dr. Pamela Conrad studies Arctic and Antarctic extremophile environments on Earth and is involved in the search for life on Mars. Dr. Steven Benner works on GOES-N (satellite monitoring Earth) and has been involved in studying Titan and its atmosphere for life signs.
3) We can now find planets around other stars - mostly large, but some only a few times larger than Earth (known as SuperEarths). Using spectroscopy and other detailed analysis we can even start studying exoplanet atmospheres! What if an atmosphere composition resembling Earth's atmosphere or the atmosphere of another terrestrial planet was found - fascinating. What if organic molecules were detected - astounding! Just today news was released of a SuperEarth with a measured atmosphere that might contain water vapor. That too is a potentially exciting astrobiology discovery.
Guess we'll just have to wait until tomorrow.
Eyes to the skies! You'll be amazed by what you see!! AstroChick.
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