All about alien life. Is there life in space? It turns out that there are a lot of planets suitable for life.

There are not many sunrises

In just a day, the ISS crew meets 16 sunrises - the Sun rises and sets every hour and a half. Because of this, sleeping astronauts becomes uncomfortable. Therefore, especially for the team, their own time zone was developed, averaged over the time between Moscow and Houston - the two main earthly mission control centers. Special protective curtains on the windows plunge the ISS into darkness at certain hours, creating the illusion of night.

"Sleep my joy, sleep...»

The process of sleeping in space is not as comfortable as it might seem at first glance. Even the artificially created illusion of night cannot compensate for the lack of gravity: astronauts have to sleep strapped in so as not to float while sleeping in zero gravity. In addition, the ISS is very noisy due to the large amount of equipment, all kinds of pumps, fans and filters. But despite all the nuances, sleep in weightlessness is more peaceful than on Earth. And in some cases, while sleeping in zero gravity, astronauts even get rid of snoring.

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Life outside the planet - on a space station - is associated not only with dreams and unprecedented fantasies, but also with real everyday tasks that ordinary people seem trifling, and astronauts have to expend a lot of effort to overcome them.

website learned all the details of the organization of the life of the space crew.

1. Almost at home

4. How to eat?

The well-known food in tubes for astronauts is no longer in vogue, now they eat food, pre-dehydrated, for the preparation of which you need "just add water." The menu is chosen by themselves, having previously tested it on Earth, it includes a wide variety of dishes: pork with pepper, beef, chicken soup, juice, and even ice cream and chocolate.

Salt and pepper, by the way, are made in the form of a liquid so that the grains do not interfere with breathing.

5. Shower on board

Instead of a shower, cosmonauts used to use wet wipes and sponges, now the station is equipped with a special bath or cover, a device for collecting moisture and fastenings for fixing human legs are installed on the lower part. water is reusable.

6. How is the toilet

The organization of hygiene and toilet is a rather complicated process, which the astronauts themselves do not like to talk about. Water, for example, is reusable, and waste is split into oxygen and water and sent to a closed cycle. As for the personal hygiene device, or, more simply, the toilet, it was first designed for each astronaut individually, accurately observed the proportions of the body so that the liquid could not get into the air. Now private toilets are not used. The station now has only 2 toilets, which also work like a vacuum cleaner, and each costs approximately $19 million.

7. Difficult but possible

Sex in space is possible, but not safe, and all because of gravity. Despite this, procreation in orbit is impossible. Conducted studies on breeding offspring with quail chicks showed that they could not eat and did not orient themselves in space, the surviving chicks did not endure the stress during landing.

It will heat up even more and in billions of years the Earth will no longer be able to support life.

Our planet will be affected by the friction of the solar atmosphere and will go into oblivion.

The only consolation is that everyone we know will perish long before that happens.

Maybe humanity needs look for other places where can you stay?

Here are a few options.

Space station

If our world is overtaken by a catastrophe, for example, the fall of an asteroid, the eruption of a supervolcano, space stations can become temporary lifeboats for some people.

Space stations have one advantage over the other options on this list, as they technically achievable. The installation of the station can generate artificial gravity, which is necessary to maintain bone and muscle mass.

Photosynthesis is also possible, since a station in Earth's orbit will receive as much Sun as on Earth.

The only problem with space stations is that so far they have all been in unstable low-Earth orbit and require periodic ascent to a higher orbit to prevent uncontrolled re-entry.

But this can be solved with Lagrange points- areas where gravitational and tidal forces are balanced, and it takes more energy to get out of these points than to stay there.

There are five such points in the Earth-Moon system and two of them are very stable. This means that we can build space stations of almost any size and place them at Lagrange points, direct them to the Sun and make them rotate, providing people with large autonomous houses, from where they can safely watch the end of the world on Earth.

Interesting Facts:

The International Space Stationthe most expensive structure, made by a man, whose cost was about 100 billion dollars.

The area of ​​the ISS can be compared with football field size.

Interesting Facts:

Since 1960, it has been launched 68 missions towards Mars or past the Red Planet.

· A person weighing 100 kg on Mars would weigh 38 kg.

The average temperature on Mars is -80°C. In winter, near the poles, it can drop to -125°C, and in summer, near the equator, it can rise to 20°C, but fall to -73°C at night.

Oort cloud

The Oort cloud is one of the little-known regions of our solar system. A huge cloud of comet nuclei revolves around the Sun in the form of a spherical shell that extends for a distance 5000 - 100,000 astronomical units(1 AU = 150 million km).

Bodies in the Oort cloud contain almost everything that people need for life: water and carbon.

In one of his books, Carl Sagan imagined a future in which people travel from one Oort cloud comet to another, consuming their resources and gradually moving towards the nearest star system.

The only problem is how to make a journey of several centuries, moving through interstellar space.

Interesting Facts:

The distance from the Sun to the outer edges of the Oort cloud is about a quarter of the distance to the nearest star - Proxima Centauri.

No one knows how many objects there are in the Oort cloud, but it is assumed that there are about 2 trillion.

deep space

None of the options above are a long-term solution. Even a cloud of icy comets cannot escape the Sun's death throes. What can not be said about deep space.

Colonial ships can drift through the space between the stars endlessly, without encountering a changing environment.

Each ship will become a kind of time capsule, carrying a microcosm of the society it has created that has hardly changed in response to floods, famines, droughts or wars.

Of course, interstellar travelers will have to face some challenges. They will need fuel for energy production, materials for repair and expansion and possibly contraceptives to prevent overcrowding.

They will have to periodically enter some star system to replenish supplies, and at the same time land disgruntled inhabitants every few generations.

Interesting Facts:

The Voyager 1 space probe is the furthest object from earth, created by man, which is located at a distance of 19 billion km from the Sun.

· After 40,000 years Voyager 1 will reach another star, and in 285,000 years can reach Sirius.

Planets outside the solar system

People will explore new worlds and civilizations, but are unlikely to find a planet on which they can live.

Although the Kepler space telescope discovered thousands of planets similar to Earth, and many of them are in the habitable zone, where liquid water can exist, this does not mean that we can settle there.

Planetary ecosystems are quite complex. To imagine how difficult it will be for humans to colonize an exoplanet, imagine an alien with a completely different biology who is trying to live on Earth.

Even if he can withstand gravity and atmospheric pressure, the level of radiation will not be lethal to the body, and oxygen will not cause it to burn out, other problems will have to be faced.

The stranger will die of hunger, because unearthly ecosystem almost certainly will not use the same 20 amino acids that we use for life. What will happen if you eat amino acids alien to you? Nothing. They will pass undigested, because our anatomy is not adapted to receive nutrients from them.

We can't even survive on grass, even though grass is much closer to human biology than any extraterrestrial organism. Every step in the evolution of life on Earth depends on the steps that came before, and nothing on earth can go long without another life.

Even our oxygen-rich atmosphere is a product of life, and oxygen-rich worlds may already be habitable. But if we do find a planet that is a clone of the Earth in every way, its biology will be incompatible with ours.

Interesting Facts:

・According to the study, there are about 160 billion exoplanets in the Milky Way galaxy alone.

Opening now confirmed 1743 planets outside the solar system.

This photo is indisputable proof of the existence of life outside the Earth
The unique photo that you can see in front of you shows a mysterious dragon-shaped organism that was found in space. The researchers say it is evidence of an extra-planetary origin of life on Earth - including humans.

The organism was found among dust and particles collected deep in the Earth's stratosphere. It is made up of carbon and oxygen, the building blocks of life.

The scientists who discovered it insist that there was no way it could have been carried into space from our planet - and therefore, most likely, it comes from some other part of our universe.

The organism was discovered by Professor Milton Wainwright and his team at the University of Sheffield and the Buckingham Center for Astrobiology. Wainwright and his colleagues explore the Earth's atmosphere by launching probes into the stratosphere to a height of 27 kilometers. According to him, this find is not only proof of the existence of life in outer space - but also that extraterrestrial organisms continuously enter the Earth's biosphere.

Wainwright says: “This organism was collectively called the dragon particle, and analysis showed that it is composed of carbon and oxygen - and therefore is not a particle of cosmic or volcanic dust. It is clearly biological in nature, although it cannot be said with certainty whether it is part of a single organism or composed of smaller, individual microbes. The size of an organism is about 10 microns.”

The find comes just weeks after astronauts discovered traces of life on the outer surface of the International Space Station, which orbits Earth.

While US-Russian relations may not be at their best on Earth, the International Space Station remains an outpost of cooperation between the two countries.

The ITAR-TASS news agency reported on August 19 that Russia's space agency, Roskosmos, had detected plankton on the outside of the ISS. According to the head of the expedition, Vladimir Solovyov, plankton samples were found on the outside of the Russian section of the ISS. This is surprising, since none of the astronauts or representatives of any institutions of the West participated in such experiments. NASA does not have much confidence in the report, as they have not yet heard any official reports from their Russian counterparts.

It is not yet known exactly which plankton samples were found by Roskosmos - nevertheless, this statement seems plausible, although unlikely.

The farther, the clearer it becomes that a much more favorable external environment than previously thought. Of course, for human-sized organisms, space is just a horrible place. However, for certain organisms, it is no more aggressive than some ecological niches here on Earth - like volcanic vents at the bottom of the oceans or Antarctica. High radiation, lack of pressure, intense heat or cold in space are, of course, very cruel conditions - but they are not lethal to creatures a few fractions of a millimeter in size.

It is known that for many years experiments have been carried out on the ISS to test microorganisms for endurance. In 2008, bacteria living in rocks found in Devon were left outside the ISS for 533 days. When the rock samples were returned to Earth, the bacteria began to multiply again. They were ordinary cyanobacteria. Several other experiments - with lichen and tardigrades - have also shown that some life forms can hibernate and wait until conditions improve. That is why in recent years the panspermia hypothesis that terrestrial life originally arrived on Earth with asteroids or comets has been actively gaining momentum.

It is very likely that the plankton living on the outer shell of the ISS could have come from a supply vessel - after all, sterilization of spacecraft is very difficult. NASA has every reason to believe that its landers, including Viking and Curiosity, were not completely sterile. And it is likely that when people finally get to Mars, we will not be the first earthlings on it. Some of our microscopic relatives may already be waiting for us there.

A number of recent discoveries may indicate the existence of an extraterrestrial civilization right in our solar system. Thus, the question is no longer as “Is there other life in space?” Now scientists prefer to talk not about the reality of aliens, but about the time when we will finally meet them.

Water on Mars

A team of scientists proved that at least one-fifth of the red planet was completely covered by the real H20. All signs of life that certainly existed in the ocean can be found deep in the sands of Mars. Interestingly, life on Earth originated around the time when the last lakes on Mars dried up.

footprints in the sand

Two years ago, the Curiosity probe discovered traces of nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon under the surface of Mars. In 2014, NASA published a report indicating the presence of organic compounds found by the probe. All this shows that, most likely, there really was life on Mars.

Asteroids and comets

Scientists consider asteroids and comets a key factor in the emergence of life on our planet. In particular, comets, according to a report published in August, brought amino acids to Earth, without which the development of any organisms would be impossible. Given the abundance of comets in space, there's every chance they could do the same for another planet.

Satellite of Jupiter

Jupiter's tiny moon, Europa, is covered in small rifts. Astronomers are sure: this is an indicator of those places where water has gone into the crust of the satellite. That's why NASA is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in future flight projects, hoping to discover life beneath Europa's surface.

Satellite of Saturn

Enceladus has the same prospects - earlier this month, scientists confirmed that an ocean is hiding under the icy shell of this giant. If this is true, then Enceladus is an ideal place for the development of life.

strange objects

In addition to the already confirmed data about Enceladus and Europa, scientists suspect the presence of water in a dozen more small objects in our solar system. The problem here is the same: water could be hidden under the planet's mantle.

Surprise Titan

In addition, Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is the only object in the solar system with lakes on the surface. Here, however, life similar to ours cannot arise, since these lakes do not consist of water, but of liquid titanium. However, earlier this year, scientists at the Cornell Research Center proved that life can also exist on a methane, oxygen-free basis.

Out of sight

It is quite possible that life, however, can only originate in conditions similar to those on Earth. This will only mean one thing: the only chance to detect aliens exists only outside the solar system. Last July, scientists discovered an extremely Earth-like planet, 1,400 light-years away. Its size, orbit, sun and even age completely repeat our conditions. Thus, there is no difficulty in the origin of life on the surface of this planet.

Where are the aliens?

Many quite reasonably ask: since there are extraterrestrial civilizations, why have we not heard about them yet. Astronomers have an answer to this question as well. The fact is that the Milky Way is not the most suitable place for the emergence of life. But several other galaxies already discovered could supposedly contain more than 10,000 Earth-like planets.

Seeds of life

We and everything around us are created from heavy atoms, born as a result of explosions of supermassive stars. This not only connects us to the entire universe, but also highlights the possibility of extraterrestrial life. This, at least, is what the famous astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is sure of, whose recent work on this topic has become a real hit among the scientific community.