Extraterrestial Water

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I thought to put the subject back in focus, due to several recent discoveries that have hit the news recently, such as the discovery of underground ice on Mars closer to the equator than ever thought (http://www.cbc.ca...) and that there is traces of water found in the Moon's dirt (http://www.cbc.ca...) which, while not enough to support native life, can possibly be produced in enough quantities to sustain supplies in the event we ever have a colony there (fingers crossed).

But, moving on, what are people's thoughts on the subject of water being found on moons and planets within our solar system, or even in extrasolar systems?

While I'm aware of the implications of finding water towards the possibility of recognizable life, what are the other benefits - or cons - of finding water out there?

If you need more information on water in the cosmos, I found the Wikipedia page to be very helpful: http://en.wikipedia.org...

Well, if we ever get working fusion generators, water on moons etc would prove quite useful as a source of fuel.

Moon colonies will simply be colonialism reborn with greater insights before we go ahead and do it. I'll try and make profit by registering the Moonian Revolutionary Army as a trademark

What I'd like to know is just why water is necessary for life in the first place. How do we know for sure that life couldn't evolve or sustain itself on a planet where sulfur dioxide is the main liquid?

I'm sure there's an excellent answer out there, and I'm hoping someone here knows it.

From Wiki:

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"From a biological standpoint, water has many distinct properties that are critical for the proliferation of life that set it apart from other substances. It carries out this role by allowing organic compounds to react in ways that ultimately allow replication. All known forms of life depend on water. Water is vital both as a solvent in which many of the body's solutes dissolve and as an essential part of many metabolic processes within the body. Metabolism is the sum total of anabolism and catabolism. In anabolism, water is removed from molecules (through energy requiring enzymatic chemical reactions) in order to grow larger molecules (e.g. starches, triglycerides and proteins for storage of fuels and information). In catabolism, water is used to break bonds in order to generate smaller molecules (e.g. glucose, fatty acids and amino acids to be used for fuels for energy use or other purposes). Water is thus essential and central to these metabolic processes. Therefore, without water, these metabolic processes would cease to exist, leaving us to muse about what processes would be in its place, such as gas absorption, dust collection, etc."
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So I suppose all known life needs water, but there is in fact possibility for life out there to exist without water. Interesting.

So I suppose all known life needs water, but there is in fact possibility for life out there to exist without water. Interesting.

You bring up a good point, and one I agree with. Too many scientists believe that all life forms need a couple of things, such as carbon. Of course, this is only for all known life forms, as you point out. There can very well be other organisms in the universe that survive on things we can't even imagine.

Well, if you're looking for life, you look for the known ingredients. You can't look for anything else, you wouldn't know when you saw it.

At 9/25/2009 3:48:42 PM, Ragnar_Rahl wrote:
Well, if you're looking for life, you look for the known ingredients. You can't look for anything else, you wouldn't know when you saw it.

Haha, true.

At 9/24/2009 9:29:53 PM, Volkov wrote:
I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I thought to put the subject back in focus, due to several recent discoveries that have hit the news recently, such as the discovery of underground ice on Mars closer to the equator than ever thought (http://www.cbc.ca...) and that there is traces of water found in the Moon's dirt (http://www.cbc.ca...) which, while not enough to support native life, can possibly be produced in enough quantities to sustain supplies in the event we ever have a colony there (fingers crossed).

But, moving on, what are people's thoughts on the subject of water being found on moons and planets within our solar system, or even in extrasolar systems?

While I'm aware of the implications of finding water towards the possibility of recognizable life, what are the other benefits - or cons - of finding water out there?

If you need more information on water in the cosmos, I found the Wikipedia page to be very helpful: http://en.wikipedia.org...

CBC... EWWWWWWW

I wish I still had that ewww video within a clicks reach.

At 9/26/2009 5:35:00 PM, BrandonClark wrote:
CBC... EWWWWWWW

I wish I still had that ewww video within a clicks reach.

This kind of post is probably why people don't like you.