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'This significantly increases the chances of finding environments where life could, in theory, develop.' [space.com]

The chances of finding alien life may have just gotten a significant boost.

A new analysis of exoplanets suggests that there is a much greater chance than previously thought of these worlds hosting liquid water, an essential ingredient for life on Earth.

The universe could therefore be filled with more habitable planets than scientists had previously believed, with a greater chance of these worlds possessing environments in which alien life could develop, even if they have icy outer shells.

"We know that the presence of liquid water is essential for life. Our work shows that this water can be found in places we had not much considered," research leader and Rutgers University scientist Lujendra Ojha said in a statement. "This significantly increases the chances of finding environments where life could, in theory, develop."

[...] "Before we started to consider this subsurface water, it was estimated that around one rocky planet [in] every 100 stars would have liquid water," Ojha explained. "The new model shows that, if the conditions are right, this could approach one planet per star. So we are 100 times more likely to find liquid water than we thought."

Because there are about 100 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, "that represents really good odds for the origin of life elsewhere in the universe," he added.
How icy worlds could hold on to liquid water

The researchers investigated planets found around the most common type of stars in our galaxy, red dwarfs, which are smaller and cooler than the sun. Not only do red dwarfs, also known as M-dwarfs, make up about 70% of the stars in the Milky Way, but they are also the stars around which the majority of Earth-like rocky worlds have been found.

[...] Not only has this effect made Europa and Enceladus prime candidates for finding life elsewhere in the solar system, but it has implications for life-maintaining environments on worlds orbiting other stars.

NASA will soon explore at least one ice world, albeit within the bounds of the solar system: Its Europa Clipper probe is scheduled to launch toward the Jovian system in 2024 and arrive six years later.

[...] "The prospect of oceans hidden under ice sheets expands our galaxy's potential for more habitable worlds," Méndez said. "The major challenge is to devise ways to detect these habitats by future telescopes."

Journal Reference:
Ojha, L., Troncone, B., Buffo, J. et al. Liquid water on cold exo-Earths via basal melting of ice sheets. Nat Commun 13, 7521 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35187-4 [doi.org]

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