Sustained and comparative habitability beyond Earth
Sustained and comparative habitability beyond Earth
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DOI：
10.1038/s41550-023-02158-8
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发表时间：
2023-12-28
期刊：
影响因子：
14.1
通讯作者：
Vance，Steven D.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cockell，Charles S.;Simons，Mark;Vance，Steven D.
尽管我们对支持生物生长和繁殖所需的物理和化学条件有了合理的了解，但对于在地质时间尺度上维持这些条件所需的地球物理条件，我们仍然只有初步的掌握。我们建议，需要加强地球物理学和生物学之间的联系，以量化可持续可居住性，并最终使比较可居住性科学成熟。比较宜居性将使我们了解在不同行星体上维持宜居性的共同原则，以及对于给定的行星体特征，宜居性是可预测的还是偶然的。这些发展是由我们太阳系的任务实现的，包括对木卫二、土卫二和土卫六等冰冷天体的任务，再加上望远镜，使我们能够研究系外行星的可居住性，从而为实现可持续可居住性的过程提供必要的见解。相对宜居性将有助于确定地球是否是一个罕见的前哨，适合数十亿年的生物圈，或者在这里允许持续宜居的条件是否在宇宙中很常见。
Although we have a reasonable understanding of the physical and chemical conditions required to support the growth and reproduction of organisms, we still have only a rudimentary grasp of the geophysical conditions required to sustain those conditions over geological timescales. We propose that a strengthening of the interface between geophysics and biology is required to quantify sustained habitability and ultimately to mature the science of comparative habitability. Comparative habitability will inform our understanding of the common principles that allow habitability to be sustained on different planetary bodies, and whether habitability is predictable or contingent for a given set of planetary body characteristics. These developments are enabled by missions in our Solar System, including those to icy bodies such as Europa, Enceladus and Titan, in combination with telescopes allowing us to study habitability on exoplanets, thus providing essential insights into processes that can enable sustained habitability. Comparative habitability will help to determine whether Earth is a rare outpost of conditions suitable for a multi-billion-year biosphere, or whether the conditions that allowed for sustained habitability here are common in the Universe.