ScienceDaily (Sep. 21, 2009) — 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.
An image showing microbes living in sandstone in Antarctica. (Credit: C Cockell)
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.
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