Unpacking the Search for Life in Space

Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered if someone or something might be looking back? It’s a question that’s been rattling around in human heads forever, from campfire stories to high-tech labs. Lately, though, it feels like we’re on the cusp of actually figuring it out. Space exploration has been kicking into high gear, and every new mission seems to drop a breadcrumb that says, “Hey, maybe we’re not the only ones here.” So, where are we at with this cosmic detective story?

The Backstory: How We Got Here

People have been dreaming about alien life for ages, but it wasn’t until the 20th century that we got serious about it. Back in the ‘60s, a guy named Frank Drake came up with an equation to guess how many chatty alien civilizations might be out there. It’s a cool idea, but it’s more of a thought experiment than a roadmap. Then there’s Enrico Fermi, who basically said, “If they’re out there, where are they?” Good question, Enrico. For years, we tried answering it by tuning into the cosmos with giant radio dishes, hoping to catch an extraterrestrial “hello.” Spoiler: we haven’t yet.

Now, though, we’re not just chasing little green men with walkie-talkies. Scientists are digging into the idea that life might not need to be advanced to count, maybe it’s just tiny bugs living in weird places. On Earth, we’ve found critters thriving in boiling vents and frozen ice. That’s got folks thinking, ‘if life can hack it here in the tough spots, why not out there?’

Fresh Clues from Our Neighbourhood

Let’s start close to home. Venus, the planet that’s basically a pressure cooker threw us a curveball in 2020. Scientists spotted phosphine gas floating around in its clouds. On Earth, that stuff comes from living things, like bacteria. Does that mean Venus has life? Not necessarily, but it’s got people buzzing. The clouds up there aren’t as brutal as the surface, so maybe some tiny organisms could hang out. More missions are in the works to sniff around and see what’s up.

Then there’s Mars. It’s been the go-to spot for alien daydreams forever, and it’s still delivering. NASA’s Perseverance rover is poking around an old lakebed called Jezero Crater, scooping up rocks that might have fossils of ancient microbes. I mean, how wild would that be? Those samples are coming back to Earth soon, and if they’ve got anything alive or once-alive in them, it’s game on.

Don’t sleep on the moons, either. Jupiter’s Europa has an ocean under its icy shell, and it might have the right chemistry for life. Saturn’s Enceladus is even weirder it’s got geysers spitting water into space, like a cosmic sprinkler. Both are on the shortlist for future visits, and I’m crossing my fingers we find something slimy down there.

Zooming Out: Planets Around Other Stars

Our solar system’s cool, but the real action’s happening way out there with exoplanets circling other suns. We’ve spotted thousands since the ‘90s, and some are in the “Goldilocks zone,” where it’s not too hot or cold for water. That’s a big deal, because water’s the secret sauce for life as we know it.

The James Webb Space Telescope, which blasted off a couple years back, is our new best friend for this. It’s like a cosmic sniffer dog, checking out the air on these far-off worlds for signs of life stuff like oxygen or methane. It’s already snapped some jaw-dropping pics, and if it catches a whiff of something alive, you’ll hear me cheering from here.

What’s Next?

NASA’s Europa Clipper is launching soon to scope out that icy moon. Another mission, JUICE, is heading to Jupiter’s moons, too. On Mars, the Rosalind Franklin rover’s going to drill deep for clues. And the SETI folks? They’re still listening for alien podcasts, just in case.

So, What If We Find Something?

Picture this: we crack open a Mars rock and find a fossil. Or Europa’s Ocean coughs up a microbe. Even if it’s not E.T. phoning home, it’d flip everything we know upside down. Life elsewhere means life’s probably all over the place, right? It’d rewrite science books, spark big debates, and maybe even get us working together to explore more. One expert, Ellen Stofan from NASA, thinks we’ll have solid hints in a decade and proof in a couple more. I hope she’s right.

Wrapping Up

This whole “are we alone” thing isn’t sci-fi anymore it’s real, messy, and exciting. Every new find pulls us closer to an answer, and whether it’s bugs on Mars or a signal from a star, it’s going to change us. For now, I’m just stoked to watch it unfold. How about you?

References

1.     Jane K. Greaves et al., Phosphine Gas in the Cloud Decks of Venus, 14 Nature Astronomy 1174 (2020).

2.     NASA, Perseverance Rover Mission Overview, https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ (last visited July 25, 2025).

3.     NASA, Europa Clipper Mission, https://europa.nasa.gov/ (last visited July 25, 2025).

4.     NASA, Enceladus and the Search for Life, https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/saturn-moons/enceladus/ (last visited July 25, 2025).

5.     European Space Agency, JUICE Mission Overview, https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/JUICE (last visited July 25, 2025).

6.     NASA, James Webb Space Telescope and Exoplanets, https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/science/exoplanets.html (last visited July 25, 2025).

7.     SETI Institute, Overview of SETI Research, https://www.seti.org/ (last visited July 25, 2025).

8.     David Winker, The Search for Life in the Solar System, Scientific American, Oct. 2023.

9.     Ellen Stofan, NASA Chief Scientist: We’ll Find Signs of Alien Life by 2025, BBC News, Apr. 7, 2016, https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36025706.

10.  NASA, Search for Life Beyond Earth, https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanets/search-for-life/ (last visited July 25, 2025).

This article is authored by Nupur, who participated at the “Law Over Coffee” workshop organized by Lets Learn Law. The views and opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author.