Research scientist and professor Dr Lewis Dartnell delivered an engaging and informative talk on astrobiology and alien life at Abasaheb Garware College, Pune, recently. The session was a part of the Great Talks series which was organised by the British Council.
Dartnell, who is also a presenter and an author, holds a professorship in Science Communication at the University of Westminster. The core emphasis of his research is focussed on the field of astrobiology and the search for microbial life on Mars. So far, he has written four books with Origin and The Knowledge making it to the bestseller shelf.
At the recently held session in Pune, he focused on the hunt for alien life on Mars. He defined the ‘earthly’ meaning of life as being divided into three parts — information, metabolism and memory. He also gave the audience a tour of the solar system and how Mars is the most Earth-like place. But, lately, it has suffered an extreme catastrophe and is now merely a freezing desert.
He also confirmed the launch of ExoMars in 2020, a rover built by the European Space Agency, to explore the Red Planet and detect the possibility of life. He also spoke about the existence of a second Earth, thousands of years away.
We spoke to Dartnell to know more about his work. Excerpts:
Is it possible to have human settlement on Mars?
In terms of astrobiology, we want to explore Mars using robots as fully as we can before we send humans. To avoid contamination of the surface of Mars, we can cleanse and sterilise a robot, we can decontaminate it from any kind of bacteria, but sterilising a human is fatal. The moment we send a set of humans to Mars, we are almost sure to contaminate its surface. We want to avoid that as much as possible.
Will ExoMars be looking for signs of life on the Red Planet?
As I mentioned in the talk, the three things that define life are Information, Metabolism and Memory. So, once you know what life is, in the general sense, without making too many assumptions, you can design experiments to look for complex chemistry and we are already good at detecting the same even in trace amounts. The challenge with ExoMars is that we are taking something that could fill up the entire room with all the bits of experiments, equipment and shrinking it down to very light weight and low power so that it can run on solar panels. ExoMars is like a mini laboratory with wheels at the bottom and solar panels and cameras at the top. With the gathered information, we would then design experiments to look for life on Mars.
Considering how global warming is becoming a bigger problem, would it be a good idea to send people to another planet?
This is more of an ethical question, rather than a scientific one. A question that all of society needs to hear and take a step towards it. Science and technology can enable that and many other things that we should personally decide to limit and control. So, although I think human settlement on Mars might happen sooner or later, in general terms, having humans on more than one planet in self sustaining colonies is a good idea as we are not keeping all of our eggs in one basket that way. However, it is not easy and cannot be treated even as an option. We absolutely have to protect our planet to the best of our ability.
Is there a possibility of having an atmosphere on Mars that can sustain life?
Currently, Mars is being explored by robots. Sooner or later, we will start sending humans to Mars instead of the moon after which we may construct colonies, permanent structures, and call them back a couple of days later. These colonies will be completely self sustained. They will have to be pressurised for the purpose of breathing. We will have to grow our own food in space farms, we will have to drink our own recycled urine instead of freshwater. Thus, all the events taking place naturally on Earth like rain, rivers, water cycle, air to breathe, the food we grow, we will have to make this happen artificially using machinery on Mars.
Is it possible to move to the newly discovered second Earth?
In principle, yes. In pragmatic terms, almost certainly not. The distance from here to the newly discovered second Earth is more than a thousand years. If we were to launch ourselves, reaching there would happen only generations later. Those who were launched would be dead and the ones who’d finally arrive would have no memory or cultural history of where they came from. In essence, they won’t really be earthlings. So, this is less of a possibility of being considered as a backup plan. Nonetheless, humans are explorative, inquisitive species who will, over long periods of time, start spreading beyond the Earth. But, this will be an extremely slow process.
What is the best evidence found that can make us believe that aliens exist?
Currently, there is no such evidence regarding the existence of aliens. But, in the future, there will be a chance when we may have found something significant on Mars. Hence, it is the current generation that possesses the capability to answer profound questions about what lies beyond. We’re sending two rovers to Mars next year to search for signs of life.
What are your interests apart from astrobiology?
I like to do scientific research and creative things in terms of writing. I quite enjoy rock climbing and I am also a qualified skydiver.
(With inputs from Ishwari Sharma)
