Exobiology: New Horizons and the Deep.

Exobiology is a branch of science that deals with a̶l̶i̶e̶n̶s̶ possible life forms in space.

On June 20, 2020, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration made a striking discovery. The Milky Way most probably teeming with dozens of Ocean Worlds. By definition, Ocean Worlds were planets made completely or mostly of H2O. These planets tend to have geysers or ice that make most of the planets. However, the only Ocean Worlds we see in the Solar Systems are moons. Most moons surrounding Jupiter and Saturn fall into the category of Ocean World, prompting NASA to conduct further research into the prospect of life in such planets. 

NASA tried 53 randomly chosen exoplanets and more than 25% of said planets contained enough water to be classified as an Ocean Planet. Considering these facts, NASA constructed a simple hypothesis: If these smaller versions of Ocean Planets exist, do much bigger and more habitable zones exist as well? The Universe is vast and extremely unpredictable; the chances of one being in our galaxy are extremely high. But that’s not what we were here for. We are here to discuss the possibility of marine life in these Ocean Planets, and how said life would be.

The first rule to the possibilities of life in the vast abyss that is space is to determine if it is a Goldilocks Zone. A Goldilocks Zone is a “Not too hot, Not too cold” Zone. These types of zones house extremely high chances of life. If this planet was indeed a Goldilocks Zone, then we may assume that it contains life. Prehistoric Life started in the Oceans with animals adapting to the landmass of Pangea by spontaneously growing legs. Then, these creatures proceeded to stomp around, eating the newly created plants and even each other. Anything to survive. These animals were gigantic, kings of the land. They ruled the Earth for a while, that is until a flaming rock ended them all. Now that we covered our basics, we could indeed begin construction of the creatures in our minds. They would start off as bacteria and if the conditions stayed well, they would be able to evolve, changing from measly single cellular beings to complex multicellular animals. The O2 levels on the planet may determine the size of the creature if the O2 levels were much bigger than the creature would be much bigger, and vice versa.

We have proof of this that dates back to the Pennsylvanian Era. No not Pennsylvania.  The Pennsylvanian Era consisted of giant insects that were formed by the gargantuan blanket of O2 that shrouded our atmosphere. However, a change was discovered by the end of the Prehistoric Era. The O2 levels rose drastically but insects began decreasing in size, due to the evolution of birds. So we now have our most probable life form in the Universe. Who knows, maybe one day NASA will announce one of these planets as an extraterrestrial home, and we may live there, in the oceans? Maybe we’ll bring them to Earth and examine them? Or maybe within the depths of the Ocean, we will discover intelligent extraterrestrial life forms? Who knows what the deep hides?