New Drake equation to quantify habitability? (EPSC 09/11)
September 17, 2009

NEW DRAKE EQUATION TO QUANTIFY HABITABILITY?

Researchers from the Open University are laying the groundwork for a new equation that could mathematically quantify a habitat’s potential for hosting life, in a similar way to how the Drake equation estimates the number of intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way.

Dr Axel Hagermann will be proposing a method to find this ‘habitability index’ at the European Planetary Science Congress in Potsdam, Germany on Thursday 17 September.

“At present, there is no easy way of directly comparing the suitability of different environments as a habitat for life.  The classical definition of a habitable environment is one that has the presence of a solvent, for example water, availability of the raw materials for life, clement conditions and some kind of energy source, so we tend to define a place as ‘habitable’ if it falls into the area where these criteria overlap on a Venn diagram.  This is fine for specific instances, but it gives us no quantifiable way of comparing exactly how habitable one environment is in comparison with another, which I think is very important,” said Dr Hagermann, who originates from Recklinghausen in Germany.

Dr Hagermann and colleague Prof Charles Cockell have the ambitious aim of developing a single, normalised indicator of habitability, mathematically describing all the variables of each of the four habitability criteria.  Initially, they are focusing on describing all the qualities of an energy source that may help or hinder the development of life.

“Electromagnetic radiation may seem simple to quantify in terms of wavelengths and joules, but there are many things to consider in terms of habitability.  For instance, while visible and infrared wavelengths are important for life and processes such as photosynthesis, ultraviolet and X-rays are harmful.  If you can imagine a planet with a thin atmosphere that lets through some of this harmful radiation, there must be a certain depth in the soil where the ‘bad’ radiation has been absorbed but the ‘good’ radiation can penetrate.  We are looking to be able to define this optimal habitable region in a way that we can say that it is ‘as habitable’ or ‘less habitable’ than a desert in Morocco, for example,” said Dr Hagermann.
The pair will be presenting their initial study and asking for feedback from colleagues at the European Planetary Science Congress.  “There may be good reasons why such a habitability index is not going to work and, with so many variables to consider, it is not going to be an easy task to develop.  However, this kind of index has the potential to be an invaluable tool as we begin to understand more about the conditions needed for life to evolve and we find more locations in our Solar System and beyond that might be habitable.”

IMAGES
An image showing microbes living in sandstone in Antarctica (credit: C Cockell) can be found at:

FURTHER INFORMATION
European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) 2009
EPSC 2009 is organised by Europlanet, a Research Infrastructure funded under the European Commission’s Framework 7 Programme, in association with the European Geosciences Union. It is the major meeting in Europe for planetary scientists. The programme comprises 37 sessions and workshops covering a wide range of planetary topics.
EPSC 2009 is taking place at the Kongresshotel am Templiner See, Potsdam, Germany from Sunday 13 September to Friday 18 September 2009.
For further details, see the meeting website:
http://meetings.copernicus.org/epsc2009/

Europlanet Research Infrastructure (RI)
Europlanet RI is a major (€6 million) programme co-funded by the European Union under the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission.
Europlanet RI brings together the European planetary science community through a range of Networking Activities, aimed at fostering a culture of cooperation in the field of planetary sciences, Transnational Access Activities, providing European researchers with access to a range of laboratory and field site facilities tailored to the needs of planetary research, as well as on-line access to the available planetary science data, information and software tools, through the Integrated and Distributed Information Service.   These programmes are underpinned by Joint Research Activities, which are developing and improving the facilities, models, software tools and services offered by Europlanet.
Europlanet Project website: http://www.europlanet-ri.eu/
Europlanet Outreach and Media website: http://www.europlanet-eu.org

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