ASTROBIOLOGY

Volume 9, Number 4, 2009

ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
DOI: 10.1089=ast.2008.0281

Forum Article

The Search for Alien Life in Our Solar System:

Strategies and Priorities

Robert Shapiro1 and Dirk Schulze-Makuch2

Abstract

With the assumption that future attempts to explore our Solar System for life will be limited by economic
constraints, we have formulated a series of principles to guide future searches: (1) the discovery of life that has
originated independently of our own would have greater significance than evidence for panspermia; (2) an
unambiguous identification of living beings (or the fully preserved, intact remains of such beings) is more
desirable than the discovery of markers or fossils that would inform us of the presence of life but not its
composition; (3) we should initially seek carbon-based life that employs a set of monomers and polymers
substantially different than our own, which would effectively balance the need for ease of detection with that of
establishing a separate origin; (4) a ‘‘follow-the-carbon’’ strategy appears optimal for locating such alternative
carbon-based life.
In following this agenda, we judge that an intensive investigation of a small number of bodies in our Solar
System is more likely to succeed than a broad-based survey of a great number of worlds. Our priority for
investigation is (1) Titan, (2) Mars, (3) Europa. Titan displays a rich organic chemistry and offers several alter-
native possibilities for the discovery of extant life or the early stages that lead to life. Mars has already been
subjected to considerable study through landers and orbiters. Although only small amounts of methane testify to
the inventory of reduced carbon on the planet, a number of other indicators suggest that the presence of microbial
life is a possibility. Care will be needed, of course, to distinguish indigenous life from that which may
have spread by panspermia. Europa appears to contain a subsurface ocean with the possibility of hydrother-
mal vents as an energy source. Its inventory of organic carbon is not yet known. Key Words: Separate
origin—Panspermia—Follow the carbon—Cosmic evolution—Titan—Mars—Earth—Origin of life. Astrobiology
9, 335–343.

Motivations for the Search for Extraterrestrial Life geochemical circumstances of early Earth. If the latter should
be the case (and a number of laboratory simulations suggest

T he most important scientific discovery likely to be

found in our Solar System would be that of a separate
origin of life: life that has arisen from inanimate matter in an
event quite distinct from our own origin. Currently, our entire
science of biology derives from the life we know, which ap-
pears to have originated from a single ancestor or event. Under
these circumstances, we cannot be sure as to which of our
components—the catalysts, membranes, genetic system, and
metabolism—are unique solutions to problems inherent in the
very nature of life and which are local solutions dictated by the
that this is so), then our encounter with the details of an al-
ternative biochemistry would produce a true scientific revo-
lution. We would learn, for example, whether genetic polymers
could function with alternative backbones and recognition el-
ements, or we might even encounter life with a compositional
genome: life that carried genetic information without em-
ploying polymers at all (Segré and Lancet, 2000).
Discoveries of this magnitude would not be likely if the
life we encounter on another planet was found to have
migrated from Earth (or vice versa) by some form of

1
Department of Chemistry, New York University, New York, New York.
2
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington.

335
336
panspermia (Arrhenius, 1903; Raulin-Cerceau et al., 1998).
Such a discovery would have considerable interest, particu-
larly if the migration event was ancient, and we would learn
how some early branch of our tree of life had adapted to
alien circumstances. If the migration took place after life
began but before it reached that stage of evolution known as
the last common ancestor, then it is possible that some clues
about the origin of our kind of life would be gained. How-
ever, even such provocative insights would pale before those
that would arise from the study of truly alien life-forms.
Enthusiasm about the possibility of extraterrestrial life
has been widespread for centuries, long before the bio-
chemical nature of Earth life was understood (Dick, 1996). The
Copernican revolution, together with the achievements of
twentieth-century science, have altered our view of the Uni-
verse. Formerly, humanity (and all life) was seen as occupying
center stage in the grand theater of existence. Now, we have
recognized that our species occupies only a tiny fragment of
an array of planets, stars, galaxies, galactic clusters, and per-
haps even universes.
The discovery of a separate origin of life would also have a
large impact on cosmology and philosophy. Claims have been
advanced that the value of the physical constants that govern
the laws of the universe fall within a limited range that make
our universe favorable for the generation of life (Davies, 1995,
2008). By a process often called ‘‘cosmic evolution,’’ (Chaisson,
2006), multiple appearances of life would be expected, even
inevitable, within this universe. The opposing viewpoint
would hold that no such ‘‘fine tuning’’ of the physical con-
stants exists and that even the appearance of our own form of
life represents an extraordinarily improbable event, a near
miracle or an authentic miracle. According to this position, no
other origins of life may be expected. To quote Nobel laureate
Jacques Monod (1971): ‘‘The present structure of the biosphere
far from excludes the possibility that the decisive event oc-
curred only once. Which would mean that its a priori proba-
bility was virtually zero.’’
If no alien life were discovered within our Solar System,
the idea of cosmic evolution would not necessarily be ne-
gated. The conditions for the origin of life might be subject to
some limitations, with only one suitable planet qualifying in
the vicinity of our Sun. The discovery of a second origin of
life within this Solar System, on the other hand, would
provide strong evidence in favor of cosmic evolution and
would very likely lead to the conclusion that life is abundant
within our universe.
The magnitude of the questions that would be answered if
a separate origin of life were found, along with the rich har-
vest of biochemical information, would more than justify the
enormous costs of this quest. A substantial yield of practical
applications might also be expected. For example, consider-
able efforts have been made to synthesize new protein en-
zymes with desirable properties (Robertson and Scott, 2007).
What opportunities might appear if we were introduced to a
different group of chemical catalysts whose structure had also
been optimized by an extensive period of evolution?
While this article is concerned with the search on other
nearby worlds, we should not exclude the possibility that a
separate origin of life may even exist on our home planet.
This topic has been discussed in recent publications (Davies
and Lineweaver, 2005; Cleland and Copley, 2005; Davies
et al., 2009; Sleep, 2009).
SHAPIRO AND SCHULZE-MAKUCH
Strategy and Tactics in the Search
for Extraterrestrial Life
What overall strategy should be adopted in the search for
life? We assume that the resources of nations interested in the
search for alien life will be limited in the future. Problems
created by increasing population, dwindling resources, and
changing climate will consume an increasing share of national
budgets. As the financial pressure grows, the exploration of
our Solar System will offer a tempting target for budget cuts
(e.g., Lawler, 2008). To maximize the chance of success, defi-
nite priorities must govern our search. We suggest the fol-
lowing guidelines:
(1) We must assume that the ‘‘Cosmic Evolution’’ hy-
pothesis is valid, as it is the one that offers a fair prospect
of success. One extreme example of the other approach
can be found in a paper by Koonin (2007). He suggested that
life began with the spontaneous generation of a complete
replication and translation apparatus. To compensate for the
overwhelming improbability of such an occurrence, the au-
thor accepted the cosmological idea of an infinite multi-
universe, identifying our own universe and presumably this
planet as the one that drew the lucky card. If Koonin’s po-
sition is correct, then any search for a separate origin would
be fruitless, as we could only detect versions of our own life
that have spread by panspermia.
In selecting the cosmic evolution hypothesis and choosing
to explore our own Solar System for life, we are then com-
pelled to favor origin theories that see life emerging gradually
by the action of a flow of available free energy through an
appropriate chemical mixture rather than by the unlikely
appearance of a complete genetic apparatus or even a highly
structured self-replicating molecule (Shapiro, 2006). We must
assume that a variety of energy-rich environments will each
shape a self-organizing system in its own distinctive way.
Hypotheses of this type have most often been grouped under
the heading ‘‘metabolism-first’’ and been applied specifically
to the origin of life on Earth. If we expect that our own origins
arose as a natural consequence of the laws of chemistry and
physics, then there is no reason why they should not work in
suitable environments that may be very different from Earth
(Kauffman, 1995).
(2) Seek a convincing answer. Conclusive evidence (a
‘‘smoking gun’’) is much more desirable than evidence that
can be subjected to multiple interpretations. We have seen a
number of disputes in the past that have lingered on without a
clear resolution: the authenticity of 3.5-billion-year-old mi-
crofossils from Western Australia (Dalton, 2002), the inter-
pretation of the Mars Viking results (Levin, 2007), and the
existence of signs of martian life in the meteorite ALH84001
(Knoll, 1998). To avoid further ambiguities, we propose that
the discovery of extant alien life should receive a much higher
priority than a search for microfossils or other markers that
simply suggest the past presence of life. A specimen of func-
tioning alien life would also permit a comprehensive bio-
chemical analysis sufficient to distinguish it from a branch of
Earth life.
(3) Choose a middle-of-the-road approach. To maximize
our chances, we must avoid for now the twin hazards of
SEARCH FOR ALIEN LIFE: STRATEGIES AND PRIORITIES
searching for life that is too familiar or too exotic. As we
have discussed, life that closely resembles our own at the bio-
chemical level is likely to be a product of panspermia rather
than a separate origin. For this reason, we should avoid terra-
centric assays based on familiar, complex terrestrial biochem-
icals such as ATP, Coenzyme A, nucleic acids, and proteins
(Baross et al., 2007). Many excellent tests of this type have been
developed for use in the study of our own biology, and it could
be tempting to pack them, with modifications to a hostile cli-
mate, aboard any future mission. Such efforts would essentially
bias missions to prove panspermia: the broader strategy we
advocate below—authentic identification of a second origin of
life—would be based upon monomer analyses capable of de-
tecting both familiar and alternative carbon-based life without
any built-in bias.
At the other extreme, there has been a considerable
amount of informed speculation on the possibility of life
based on minerals, silicones, and even more exotic ingredi-
ents (Feinberg and Shapiro, 1980; Bains, 2004; Benner et al.,
2004; Schulze-Makuch and Irwin, 2004, 2006). The number of
such possibilities, their diversity, and our unfamiliarity with
their mode of function would make the design of an inclu-
sive test for such life difficult. We propose to focus the search
for life to those forms of life that are based on carbon but use
a set of organic compounds clearly distinct from our own
[e.g., one that uses reversed chiral molecules, which, if dis-
covered, would settle a long-standing debate as to whether
the existing set of chiralities in Earth life is the result of
chance or of some inherent bias in natural law that favors
one alternative (Keszthelyi, 1995)]. Once it is established that
life is a form of self-expression of the laws of nature, rather
than a curious aberration of rare occurrence, then a more
inclusive inventory of what is possible in the realm of life
should be sought.
(4) Follow the carbon. Familiar life makes abundant use
of carbon, with lesser contributions from phosphorus, ni-
trogen, sulfur, and a handful of other elements. Water is
necessary as the solvent of our choice for carrying out reac-
tions. Life requires energy, from prominent energy sources
such as the Sun, oxidation-reduction reactions, hydrolysis of
energy-rich bonds, and (internally) the discharge of pH and
concentration gradients across a membrane (Gibson et al.,
2008). In theory, any of these ingredients could be used in a
search for extraterrestrial life.
Much of the astrobiological effort in recent years has been
based on a ‘‘follow the water’’ principle. Many lines of geo-
logical evidence have been used to support the past presence
of liquid water on Mars (Baker, 2007; Halevy et al., 2007);
and, while some of this evidence has been disputed (Catling,
2007; Kerr, 2007), a consensus appears to exist that Mars had
a wet era early in its history. The existence of an internal
ocean on Europa is accepted for the most part. Several other
satellites are hypothesized to contain internal liquid water.
With the discovery of hydrocarbon lakes on Titan, the fol-
low-the-water principle might be broadened to ‘‘follow the
solvent.’’ In our opinion, however, the latter principle is more
useful in a negative rather than a positive sense. Certainly,
the absence of any possible solvent, as on the surface of
Mercury, should be a strong indicator that a certain location
is not a suitable place to search for life. Its presence, however,
does not signify the existence of life.
337
Another principle put forward is ‘‘follow the energy’’ [e.g.,
see papers in Astrobiology 7(6), also Schulze-Makuch and Ir-
win (2002a)]. An available flow of free energy is a prereq-
uisite for life (Morowitz, 1999), but it does not necessarily
produce life. As is the case with solvents, the absence of any
obvious energy source in a particular environment indicates
that the particular environment is not a good place to search
for life, but the converse does not follow. A flow of solar
energy has bathed the surface of our Moon for billions of
years, without any obvious signs of self-organization. For life
to start, the energy source must be coupled productively
with a suitable chemical system.
If the goal of astrobiology is to search for alien life that uses
carbon compounds in its function but differs from Earth life
in many other respects, then a discipline in which an enor-
mous reference database has been accumulated—organic
chemistry—should play a key role in defining the search
strategy.
More than 35 million chemical compounds, primarily or-
ganic, have been registered in the annals of Chemical Abstracts.
Most of them are monomers (almost 60 million separate
polymer sequences are listed). From this vast collection of
known monomers, only a few hundred have been selected for
common employment throughout Earth life (Schuster, 2000).
A principle we call ‘‘sparseness’’ can then be applied: in con-
trast to the greater variety of organic compounds present in
meteorites, only a limited number of compounds function in
metabolism or act as building blocks for membranes and
biopolymers in Earth life.
A workable assumption in searching for alien carbon-based
life would be that the sparseness principle applies, but the set of
compounds chosen would differ in important respects. Life that
originated independently of Earth in a different geochemical
environment would likely have selected different biopolymers
for metabolism. A strategy to recognize such life would then be
simple: identify locations where anomalous concentrations of
carbon compounds exist in amounts sufficient for analysis. In
particular, an astrobiology strategy would be to search for a
unique pattern or ‘‘carbon signature’’ of organic monomers that
would not be expected to form through abiotic processes. In
those cases where a monomer could exhibit chirality, a mea-
surement of this property would be preferred. Though chiral
enhancement can occur through abiotic processes (Pizzarello,
2007), the presence of only one enantiomer, or at least a pro-
nounced chiral excess, could also be a sign of life.
(5) Patterns of monomers can provide evidence of alien
life. The bulk of carbon in Earth life is utilized in polymers of
various types (notably proteins, nucleic acids, and polysac-
charides) that act as catalysts and information and energy
storage molecules. Such polymers consist of a limited number
of monomer units arranged in a linear array with some vari-
ation in the composition of the side chains. The arrangement
of the units in polymers can be essential to their function.
Though terra-centric astrobiology schemes based on the de-
tection of these (or closely related) types of polymers may
succeed if life spread throughout our Solar System by pan-
spermia, they would likely miss alien life-forms that do not
employ such substances.
Molecules of high molecular weight have been encountered
in meteorites and predicted by simulations of interstellar
chemistry. Though ‘‘complex’’ large molecules in non-Earth
338
environments have been identified, they are unlike their
functional counterparts on Earth in a number of ways. They
have an irregular composition, are rich in cross-links, and
often are quite insoluble in common solvents. As described
by Cronin and Chang (1993): ‘‘The bulk of the organic matter
is retained in the residual insoluble fraction along with the
exotic carbon phases and carbonate minerals. It is composed
of a poorly characterized, structurally heterogeneous, mac-
romolecular material, which has been variously named, but
is commonly referred to as either meteorite ‘polymer’ or
‘kerogen-like’ material.’’ In many organic chemistry labora-
tories, such materials are commonly called ‘‘tar.’’ Hypotheti-
cally, one could search for ‘‘jewels’’ among the tar. In practice,
however, most meteorite analysis involves cataloging the
various monomers (Sephton and Botta, 2005). If the analysis
of extraterrestrial caches of organic material were conducted
by robots, it is hard to imagine that much would be learned by
cataloging the high–molecular weight materials. Fortunately,
a simple monomer analyses should be enough to provide the
‘‘smoking gun’’ needed to prove the existence of alien life.
Well-designed instruments (e.g., Bada, 2001; Aubrey et al.,
2008) can provide a census of the subclasses of molecules that
carry particular functional groups. Future advances in in-
strumentation and robotics may even allow a more extensive
analysis to be conducted in situ. If the results of such a robotic
analysis should appear promising, then a sample return
mission should be considered.
If we look at specific classes of compounds in Earth life,
definite patterns emerge. For example, consider the simple
aliphatic monocarboxylic acids. The most common carbox-
ylic acids found in higher plants and animals have a straight
chain with 16 or 18 carbon atoms. If double bonds are
present, they almost always have the cis configuration (Voet
et al., 1999). In the case of bacteria, we see a similar emphasis
on straight chains with lengths of 16–18 atoms, with some
contribution from acids that contain an additional internal
cyclopropane ring, which would afford a C-17 rather than a
C-16 fatty acid (O’Leary, 1962).
Much more can be learned from the study of bifunctional
compounds, the building blocks of ordered polymers. Fa-
miliar life contains a specific set of twenty a-amino acids that,
with the exception of glycine, exhibit L-stereochemistry. This
particular set of molecules was selected through evolution for
the construction of proteins in ribosomes, while many other
amino acids of equal or lesser complexity were not. Similar
displays of sparseness are found in other classes of organic
monomers employed by familiar life.
By contrast, the analysis of organic molecules in meteor-
ites, which presumably formed via abiotic synthesis, reveals
a far less selective pattern. Meteoritic organic compounds
display common characteristics that differentiate them from
biomolecules: complete structural diversity, abundance de-
cline with increasing chain length within homologous series,
and a predominance of branched-chain isomers (Pizzarello,
2004). Virtually all the isomers of the shorter carboxylic acids
(C6 or less) are represented. When simple classes of stable
monofunctional or bifunctional organic molecules are iden-
tified, those of fewer carbons predominate, with virtually
every isomer represented. The specific details may vary from
meteorite to meteorite (see, for example, Naraoka et al., 1999),
but the general pattern of diversity, rather than sparseness
SHAPIRO AND SCHULZE-MAKUCH
with marked patterns, remains. Similar findings emerged
from earlier investigations of carboxylic acids formed in
spark discharge experiments (Yuen et al., 1981).
This contrast between sparseness and diversity applies to
many of the organic groups that dominate terran biochemistry.
Many years ago, Lawless and Peterson (1976) pointed out that
there was a ‘‘marked similarity’’ between the suite of amino
acids found in the Murchison meteorite and spark discharge
experiments, and a significant difference between the meteor-
ite set and those present in E. coli. The meteoric amino acids are
composed of a group of over 70 compounds, with D- and L-
stereochemistry represented (Cronin and Chang, 1993). The
particular selections of compounds used by alien life would
likely differ significantly enough from that of familiar life to
indicate a separate origin. On the other hand, biomolecules or
their remnants that show patterns of protein, nucleic acid, and
membrane components that resemble our own could be pre-
sumed to result from panspermia.
The potential exists for searches to uncover examples of
chemical evolution, a stage in which disorganized organic
mixtures gradually attain sparseness under the influence of a
coupled flow of free energy. ‘‘Metabolism-first’’ theories of
the origin of life predict that such limited mixtures occur
initially and that biopolymer patterns are introduced during
an extended period of further evolution (Shapiro, 2006;
Wächtershäuser, 2006). The discovery of diversity patterns in
organics found on other planets, even if there were no evi-
dence they were associated with alien life, would have im-
plications with regard to the steps involved in the early
development of life.
While the location of stores of reduced carbon and the de-
tailed analysis of the identity of at least some of the classes of
carbon compounds within the pool of organics should have
high priority in our search for alien life, results from our ex-
ploration thus far justify additional tests. For example, Levin
(2007) suggested that the 1976 Viking labeled release experi-
ment produced results compatible with the presence of life on
Mars. Explanations that attribute those results to inorganic
oxidants have been prominent, yet other interpretations
consistent with biology have been put forward (Houtkooper
and Schulze-Makuch, 2007). It is unfortunate that no instru-
ment or experiment that could resolve the ambiguity created
by the labeled release experiment has been put on the surface of
Mars since the time of the Viking mission. Efforts to understand
the Viking results, which included oxygen release from the soil
on contact with water vapor as well as the labeled release ex-
periment, may be forthcoming in the near future (Levin, 2007;
Aubrey et al., 2008; Houtkooper and Schulze-Makuch, 2008;
Schulze-Makuch et al., 2008b).
Selection of Targets in the Search for Life
Though an ideal astrobiological search strategy would
include an in-depth exploration of every promising body in
our Solar System, practical considerations will limit the
search to perhaps a few worlds or maybe even just to one.
While missions such as the Mars Science Laboratory have
already been designed and tentatively scheduled, the next set
of mission priorities could be revised if significant new in-
formation concerning the likelihood of life in a particular
location should emerge. With this consideration in mind, we
SEARCH FOR ALIEN LIFE: STRATEGIES AND PRIORITIES
examine the most promising locales for future life-related
investigations.
1. Titan
Saturn’s moon Titan has a substantial atmosphere (1.5 bar
near the surface), with nitrogen and methane being the
major compounds (98.5% and 1.5%, respectively, with meth-
ane concentrations approaching 5% near Titan’s surface). A
variety of organic compounds are present as minor compo-
nents. In situ measurements indicate the presence of methane
rain on Titan (Hueso and Sanchez-Lavega, 2006; Tokano et al.,
2006) and liquid methane=ethane lakes on Titan’s surface have
been confirmed by the Cassini-Huygens mission (Stofan et al.,
2007; Brown et al., 2008). Despite the frigid temperature at
Titan’s surface, 95 K, it has been speculated that possible life
on Titan would use metabolic pathways that involve reactions
with photochemical acetylene (Schulze-Makuch and Grin-
spoon, 2005), hydrogen, and heavier hydrocarbons (McKay
and Smith, 2005). A recent National Academy of Sciences
report (Baross et al., 2007) concluded that the environment of
Titan meets the absolute requirements for life.
The environment offered by a frigid hydrocarbon lake
would be so different from any on Earth that the exotic bio-
chemistry of any life found there would be of extreme interest
to science (Schulze-Makuch and Irwin, 2004; Baross et al.,
2007).
Astrobiological investigation of the planet would offer
other opportunities to learn about life and its origin. Cometary
impacts (O’Brien et al., 2005) or eruptions in possible cryo-
volcanoes [for example, the 180 km structure Ganesa Macula
(Neish et al., 2006)], may have created transient liquid water
or water-ammonia environments on Titan’s surface that could
have initiated the process of chemical self-organization (Sha-
piro, 2006; Morowitz and Smith, 2007). Another opportunity
arises from the possibility that an ammonia and water ocean
exists within Titan (Fortes, 2000; Lorenz et al., 2008), though
the contents of a deeply buried ocean would not be readily
available for inspection. Thus, Titan offers the possibility of
encountering truly exotic hydrocarbon-based life or alterna-
tive water-based life.
For these reasons, we give Titan the highest priority for
future mission activities to find alien life (Table 1). As a bonus,
such a mission could also investigate the smaller (500 km in
diameter) moon of Saturn, Enceladus. An example of such a
combined mission is TandEM (Titan and Enceladus Mission;
Coustenis et al., 2008), which is being considered by ESA as
the next flagship mission to the outer Solar System.
2. Mars
A number of missions featuring landers and orbiters have
compiled an extensive body of geological information about
the planet. Several lines of evidence have independently
suggested the past and present existence of microbial life on
Mars (Schulze-Makuch et al., 2008a). The major points favor-
ing life on Mars are (1) the adaptability of extremophilic life on
Earth such as the endoliths in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica,
(2) the results from the Viking biological experiments, partic-
ularly recent interpretations (e.g., Houtkooper and Schulze-
Makuch, 2007), (3) proposed evidence for biological activity
339
from various martian meteorites, including ALH 84001 (e.g.,
McKay et al., 1996), (4) the detection of methane in the at-
mosphere of Mars, and (5) increasing evidence of liquid water
extending from the early history of Mars to possibly even
today (Malin and Edgett, 2000; Malin et al., 2006). Counter-
arguments have been put forward to each of these points; for
example, see Apak (2008) concerning the Viking results and
Kerr (1998) on ALH84001. If we embrace the viewpoint of
chemical evolution, however, it is hard to accept the idea that
Mars is and has always been sterile.
Unfortunately, it is unclear how common organic mole-
cules are on Mars (Aubrey et al., 2008). No hydrothermal
vents have been found on Mars to date, but they should be
present (Schulze-Makuch et al., 2007) and would present a
possibly habitable niche.
Due to the similarity of the early environmental conditions
of Mars and Earth, the separate origin of life on Mars is clearly
an option. However, panspermia is also a likely option, since
Mars and Earth are neighboring planets and panspermia as a
means for life to travel between planets has been advocated
for quite some time (Davies, 1996; Schulze-Makuch et al.,
2008a). Thus, great care will be needed to establish that or-
ganisms that are found on Mars truly represent a separate
origin of life.
Despite these concerns, the proximity of Mars (with its
lower cost of missions), the accumulated database, and the
encouraging indicators listed above lead us to rank it second
in priority in the search for life (Table 1).
3. Europa
Europa is the second of Jupiter’s Galilean satellites and has a
diameter of about 3,160 km. The moon lacks an atmosphere,
and its surface is cracked throughout due to tidal forces among
Jupiter and its satellites. The inferred internal structure of
Europa consists of a dense metal core, a rocky mantle (com-
parable to Earth), a low-density ice crust, and a subsurface
ocean (Baker et al., 2005). The thickness of the overlying ice has
been estimated to be about 20–30 km (Billings and Kattenhorn,
2005; Ruiz et al., 2007), but it may be as thin as 1 km or less in
some localities. Light would be scarce within the ocean, but the
deep ocean environment within Europa may resemble that on
Earth (Chyba and Phillips, 2002; Zolotov and Shock, 2003;
Irwin and Schulze-Makuch, 2003). On Earth, hydrothermal
vents on the ocean bottom support a surprisingly diverse suite
of organisms by providing a variety of energy-rich chemical
compounds. Other energy sources such as thermal energy and
osmotic gradients have also been suggested to power metab-
olism on Europa (Schulze-Makuch and Irwin, 2002a). It should
be noted, however, that no carbon inventory of Europa has yet
been taken. Some effort will be needed to access the internal
ocean. It is possible, however, that some organic material has
leaked onto the surface through volcanic eruptions and could
be sampled more easily.
Europa’s ranking is based upon the existence of its internal
ocean. A few other locations in our Solar System may also
harbor a subsurface ocean. We rank Europa ahead of the
remainder because of its young and structurally diverse
surface, which suggests dynamic activity in its interior. Eu-
ropa has also been the object of intensive study over the past
decade, and one recent review has termed it ‘‘a compelling
340 SHAPIRO AND SCHULZE-MAKUCH

Table 1. Arguments for and against Mission Priority for a Selected Set of Planetary Bodies in Our Solar System

Planetary body Arguments for mission priority Arguments against mission priority

1. Titan þ Abundance of organic carbon þ Long travel time to saturnian system

þ Abundance of surface liquids with a
hydrological methane cycle
þ Origin of life feasible
þ Possible presence of ‘‘exotic’’ life with a separate
origin
þ Samples to search for biosignatures of life can
easily be obtained from the surface
þ Even if no life is found, insights can be gained
about the early environmental conditions on
Earth
þ Possible internal water-ammonia ocean
2. Mars þ Various observations indicate the possibility of
life (methane plumes, abundance of water,
ALH84001)
þ Origin of life feasible on early Mars
þ Some martian environments have close
analogues on Earth and may exhibit
extremophilic life
þ Best-known planetary environment (other than
Earth) bearing advantages for identifying and
acquiring samples from suitable locations
þ Proximity to Earth
3. Europa þ Presence of large, internal ocean
þ Ice below the radiation-reworked surface may
preserve fossils derived from the deep ocean
þ Very dynamic, active, relatively large moon with
abundant energy
þ If life is present, it probably has an independent
origin from life on Earth
4. Enceladus þ Dynamic, internal activity and likely presence of
liquid water
þ Detection of organics in sampled plume
þ Samples to search for biosignatures of life can
easily be obtained
4. Venus þ Presence of some limited water and organics in
lower atmosphere
þ Samples to search for biosignatures of life in the
lower atmosphere (mode 3 particles) can easily
be obtained
þ Proximity to Earth
þ Need to develop specialized balloons, lake
landers, penetrators
þ Organic compounds appear to be rare
þ Surface conditions are hostile to life if no
special adaptation mechanisms are
invoked
þ Life is difficult to access if far below the
surface
þ Life on Mars may be related to Earth life
(panspermia) and won’t represent a
separate origin
þ Presence of organics unknown
þ Life is difficult to access below ice crust
þ Origin of life less likely
þ High irradiation environment
þ Activity appears to be constrained to
southern polar area of this small moon
þ Origin of life unlikely
þ Long travel time to saturnian system
þ Origin of life on early Venus feasible, but
no traces may be left
þ Life on Venus may be related to Earth life
(panspermia) and won’t represent a
separate origin

world in the search for a second origin of life’’ (Hand et al.,
2007). Some ingenuity will be needed in the future, however,
to devise an efficient and cost-effective way of sampling the
chemical contents of the internal ocean.
4. Other planets and moons
Two additional bodies deserve mention in this discussion:
Enceladus and Venus. Enceladus drew considerable attention
when the Cassini spacecraft identified a water plume venting
from near the south polar area of the moon (Porco et al.,
2006). The moon exhibits a wide variety of terrains with
youthful-appearing smooth surfaces that indicate recent
geological activity. One model suggests that the vented
material originates from a body of subsurface liquid water
that has a unique chemistry, including carbon dioxide,
methane, either carbon monoxide or molecular nitrogen, and
apparently trace quantities of acetylene, propane, and am-
monia (Waite et al., 2006). The heat to keep the subsurface
water liquid is probably supplied by the tidal interactions
among Saturn and its satellites. If this model is correct, then
Enceladus has the potential for life (McKay et al., 2008).
Venus has been suggested to harbor life in its acidic lower
atmosphere (Grinspoon, 1997; Cockell, 1999; Schulze-
Makuch and Irwin, 2002b, 2004). Life could have possibly
originated in an early ocean on Venus at about the same time
life originated on Earth. As Venus experienced a runaway
greenhouse effect, microbial life would have had no other
choice than to retreat to the lower atmosphere or face ex-
tinction. Schulze-Makuch et al. (2004) pointed out that green
and purple sulfur bacteria that use the ancient photosystem I
would have fit ideally into an early ocean on Venus and,
hypothetically, could be the ancestors of microorganisms
that perform a similar metabolism in the lower atmosphere
of Venus today. The discovery that life can function in the
clouds of Venus would be a remarkable testimony to its re-
silience, and there would be much to learn by a comparison
of that type of organism’s biochemistry to that of ex-
SEARCH FOR ALIEN LIFE: STRATEGIES AND PRIORITIES
tremophiles on Earth, though such a comparison might not
furnish proof of a separate origin. Venus is the closest planet
to Earth, and a panspermia event from Earth to Venus would
appear likely.
Concluding Remarks
This article has been written from the perspective of two
scientists who have authored or co-authored books discuss-
ing, with a positive bias, the possibilities for life in our Solar
System (Feinberg and Shapiro, 1980; Shapiro, 1999; Schulze-
Makuch and Irwin, 2004, 2008). Our intent has been to call
attention to, and provoke debate on, the larger questions that
may be overlooked in more detailed technical studies: Why
search at all? What type of life should be the target of our
search? What tests for life should we apply? Where should
we look? We welcome responses that may advocate other
search methods or priorities for search. We hope that some
consensus will emerge from the astrobiology community to
justify the cost of this intellectual adventure and also serve as
a guide for a long-range strategy in planning future missions.
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Address reprint requests to:
Robert Shapiro
Department of Chemistry
New York University
New York, NY 10003
E-mail: rs2@nyu.edu
Dirk Schulze-Makuch
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164
E-mail: dirksm@wsu.edu