Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on life outside the earth. Could an organism from the earth, inhabit the other planets of the solar system. Well, this essay attempts to answer this lingering question by looking at the key conditions in selected solar system planets and moons with a view of determining whether life is permissible in the highlighted conditions.Mercury (the closest planet to the sun) is one of the brightest planets in the solar system, alongside Venus, with its surface solar intensities 5-10 times higher than the solar constant. The temperatures in mercury range from 100-700 Kelvin, with quite large extremes between the equator and the poles. Although evidence suggests the presence of water vapor, liquid water is impossible in these temperature extremes). Moreover, because of its small size and high temperatures, the gravity of the planet is unable to hold any atmosphere. This absence of atmosphere hinders the presence of essential gases such as oxygen and hydrogen that are vital for life processes.In as far as the slow rotation of this planet is ideal for ‘normal’ life, the other conditions, on the other hand, are too extreme to allow for the survival of an earthly organism (even the most tolerant kinds). For one, resources are scarce or nonexistent meaning an organism would be ‘starved’ to death. Furthermore, extremes in temperature do not allow for the existence of liquid water that is of utmost importance in the survival of both plants and animals. Also, apart from the loss of vision in such high light intensities that would make it hard for organisms to search for food or seek shelter, the absence of an atmosphere allows for free penetration of radiations that would be cancerous or portend a plethora of other deadly effects such as total desiccation. These conditions ensure that even the most extreme/ hardy earth organisms cannot survive the conditions of mercury (Trammel, 2010).
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