PRL-372 - Life in the Solar System

Course Description

Life in the Solar System | Trace space exploration's quest for habitable environments and posit an answer to where else in the solar system life might exist. Examine techniques that could help determine if life exists on other worlds. $33 includes $32 fee.  Note: Requires membership in Peer Learning Partnership (PLP). Biannual membership is $30.

Learner Outcomes

Examine how conditions on early Earth (and Mars) allowed pre-biotic chemistry that lead to life, how life evolved over time, and how changing environmental conditions on Earth affected evolution; Explore how conditions on Mars differ from those on Earth, how the environment on Mars changed from warm and wet to cold and dry as the atmosphere was stripped away, and how this change affected Mars; Discuss how ocean worlds maintain a layer of liquid water over their histories, how that might be an abode for life, and how life might have arisen and evolved in such watery environments; Recognize how the strategy of searching for life has evolved over time, and what techniques are being used now to determine if life exists elsewhere in the solar system; Examine the probability that life will be found by future exploration.